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Former World No. 1 Jimmy Connors has sympathized with Holger Rune following a line call incident at the 2023 Madrid Open.
Rune made a third-round exit at the Madrid Masters 1000 tournament following a 7-6(1), 5-7, 7-6(5) defeat to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. A line call that Davidovich Fokina disagreed with during the match, and the events that followed, have become widely-discussed topics since.
Davidovich Fokina did not agree with the electronic line calling system in the first set and argued his case with the chair umpire Carlos Bernardes and an ATP supervisor. Meanwhile, Rune erased the ball mark with his foot, leading to the crowd booing him for the rest of the match.
In that context, eight-time Grand Slam champion Connors stated that he understood the reasons behind Holger Rune's actions as he went through something similar in his career.
At the 1977 US Open, which was then played on clay, Connors was up against Italian Corrado Barazzutti in the semifinals. During the match, Connors hit a shot that wasn't called out, much to Barazzutti's irritation, who pointed to a mark outside the line to argue his case. However, Connors was quick to make his way across the net and rub out the mark, resulting in a long talk with the match official and the crowd turning on their fellow American.
Recalling that incident while speaking on an episode of the Advantage Connors podcast, Connors said:
“It was at the US Open. It was a semifinal against Corrado Barazzutti. Guess [Holger] Rune kind of felt the same way as I did, got a little tired of hearing all the bitching and moaning about it. I just went rubbed it [the ball mark] out and then it was over.”
He added:
“We went on but oh the admonishment that I got from the chair umpire, I felt really bad. Well, not so bad, I went on the win the match. But unfortunately, I did not win the tournament. I got to the final and lost to I think [Guillermo] Vilas.”
John McEnroe's brother Patrick warns Holger Rune not to be "a total a**hole"
Patrick McEnroe, the brother of former World No. 1 John McEnroe, has urged Holger Rune to change his behavior following the Dane's Madrid Open controversy.
McEnroe opined that it is tough to be "a total a**hole" and still survive on the tour. He also warned that Rune was starting to "develop a reputation" on tour.
"I've said this before, I'll say it again, it's hard to be a total asshole and be on the tennis tour, okay? It's possible to do it but you end up living a very lonely existence," he said.
"He likes to ham it up, he likes to engage the crowd, but he does it in a way that kind of irritates his opponents at times. Certainly irritates the crowd. So what's happening is, he's developing a reputation," he added.
