WATCH: “Dirty crowd!” – Holger Rune gets DISRESPECTFULLY booed while walking into the court to face home favorite Fabio Fognini in Rome

Twitter feels the Italian crowd was disrespectful towards Holger Rune.

WATCH: “Dirty crowd!” – Holger Rune gets DISRESPECTFULLY booed while walking into the court to face home favorite Fabio Fognini in Rome

Holger Rune (Image via Esquire)

Rome can be a rough place to play any sport. The home crowd can get behind their players so aggressively that a foreign player might find it extremely difficult to stay calm and focused. Moreover, it’s not only about cheering for the local player. It’s also often the fact that the visitor is booed without any limits.

Well, it all brewed once again in the 2023 clay season. This time the Danish pro Holger Rune was at the center of it all. Rune showing his emotions on the court in recent weeks hasn’t gone well with tennis crowds, as there is a certain grudge that people have held against him.

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Recently, Andy Murray, after his first-round loss to local star Fabio Fognini, had said that the crowd was unnecessarily booing at him. All he was doing was explaining to the umpire Mohammad Lahyani where the mark was. Andy certainly felt that a normal conversation with the umpire shouldn’t attract any sort of booing. However, he had to cop it, and many felt it was just not acceptable to have an established athlete face that.

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Well, if that wasn’t enough, a repeat performance by the home crowd was on the cards. Holger Rune probably got the most hostile welcome to the court when he played his round 2 encounter versus Fognini. The booing knew no bounds, and Rune, who is already struggling with his image, had to cope with a bit more. In a recent interview with Eurosport, the world number seven refuted John McEnroe’s assertions that he was a bad boy. 

Related: Holger Rune dismisses John McEnroe’s notion of him getting the reputation of a ‘bad boy’

Fans react to Holger Rune’s hostile welcome on the court

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Holger Rune (Image via ATP Tour)

Viewers of the entire Rune greeting were unimpressed with the crowd. Many people thought the booing was unwarranted and that a visitor deserves far more respect. Take a peek at the reactions:

https://twitter.com/imbutiglio/status/1657740852364451845?s=20

Well, it all went well for Rune eventually as he notched up a win. He beat the Italian 6-4, 6-2. He has now moved to the Round of 16, where he will face Australian ace Alexei Popyrin. After consistently performing well in 2023, the Danish star would want to make a deep run in Rome and enter the French Open with a fantastic clay season behind him.

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