Holger Rune Questions Spanish Fans’ ‘Upbringing’ After Dramatic Davis Cup Defeat

World No.11 Holger Rune will now shift his focus toward the ATP 500 Japan Open.

Holger Rune Questions Spanish Fans’ ‘Upbringing’ After Dramatic Davis Cup Defeat

Holger Rune (Image via AllAboutHQ)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Spain, without Carlos Alcaraz, clashed with Denmark in the Davis Cup Qualifiers 2nd Round for a spot in the Davis Cup Finals. Denmark at first took a 2-0 lead after Elmer Moller‘s win over Jaume Munar and Holger Rune‘s win over Pablo Carreno Busta.

In Sunday’s clash, Denmark lost the three matches. At first, the pair of Pedro Martinez and Munar kept their team alive in the tournament by defeating August Holmgren and Johannes Ingildsen.

Martinez saved his team from the brink of elimination when he saved a match point before he broke Rune’s serve and eventually clinched the match. Busta did the rest of the job by beating Moller in straight sets.

After his match against Martinez, Rune did not shake the umpire’s hand. He shook hands with both Martinez and the Spanish team captain, David Ferrer, and approached the chair umpire for the same before pulling it away. At the press conference, he explained his decision.

He didn’t deserve to be shaken by me; he did a bad job, made a lot of mistakes, and made strange decisions.

Rune was also unhappy with the crowd at Club de Tenis Puente Romano in Marbella.

I just thought that there’s a difference between Danish and Spanish manners. When we played against Serbia, the atmosphere was also absolutely amazing, but there was clearly more respect. There’s a bit of a difference in upbringing.

Holger Rune added

The 22-year-old now trails 0-2 in the head-to-head encounter with Martinez. The latter defeated the World No.11 in straight sets in the fourth round of this year’s Rotterdam Open.

Last year, Spain lost their quarterfinal tie against the Netherlands. In that tournament, the 22-time Grand Slam champion also hung up his racket after a straight-set defeat to Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.

David Ferrer slams Holger Rune after Davis Cup drama

Spanish captain David Ferrer accused Holger Rune of hurling expletives at the crowd during the Davis Cup tie. Ferrer also argued with the supervisor why Rune was not penalized for the same.

Holger Rune (2)
Holger Rune (Image via X/Univers Tennis)

Listen to me. In the first set, he cursed the fans, and then he threw two balls, and you didn’t even call a penalty. And now I’m encouraging him, and this guy comes to me to say something. Don’t even think about saying anything to me! I’m speaking to you in Spanish because you understand me perfectly. When he hits that ball, it has to be penalty ball, and he said **** off to the crowd.

The Davis Cup was Rune’s first tournament since his exit at the US Open, where he suffered a five-set defeat to Jan-Lennard Struff in the second round. The three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist reached the fourth rounds of both the Australian Open and the French Open and lost in the first round of Wimbledon this year.

Rune will next be playing the Japan Open as the fourth seed. The ATP 500 tournament in Tokyo is scheduled to start on September 24.

Rune has so far played two finals this season, losing the Indian Wells Masters to Jack Draper and winning the Barcelona Open against Carlos Alcaraz. That ATP 500 event in Barcelona was his first in this category.

After Tokyo, Rune will be heading toward Shanghai for the ATP 1000 event. Last year on the Asian swing, Rune participated in three tournaments.

He lost to Yasutaka Uchiyama in the opening round of the Hangzhou Open and lost to eventual champion Arthur Fils in the semifinals of the Japan Open. In Shanghai, Taylor Fritz knocked him out in the fourth round. Rune has never won a title on the Asian swing yet.

Also read: Andrey Rublev’s Mother Advises Daniil Medvedev to Take a Break from Tennis After ‘Exhausting his Emotions’