An outstretched handshake. It is the least we can say. After his defeat in the 1st round of the Master 1000 at Bercy, Stanislas Wawrinka had harsh words for his opponent Holger Rune on Tuesday evening. The Swiss, eliminated in three sets (6-4, 5-7, 6-7) and more than 2h30 of play, waited for the final handshake to send him a sweet message: “My advice is that you stop act like a baby on the court. “Words spoken just in the ear of his opponent, but that the microphones placed on the court did not fail to record.
Frustration of the triple Grand Slam winner? In part. “Stan The Man” suffered against the fiery young Rune, but still missed the victory by missing three match points. Aneke Rune, the player’s mother, also pointed out the behavior of the Swiss on Danish television: “It is difficult to imagine an athlete like Stan saying that. He would then appear as an exceptionally bad loser. Holger only mentioned that he wished her luck. »
“Still plenty of time to improve my image”
However, it is difficult to blame the Swiss when we know the precedents of the 19-year-old Dane, one of the biggest talents on the circuit, who is not in his first controversy. In the quarter-finals of Roland-Garros against Casper Ruud, Holger Rune had shouted at his mother to leave the court, before refusing for a time to shake hands with his opponent. “He is young and new, so it is excusable (…) but it may be time to grow up a bit”, retorted the Norwegian against him after their face-to-face in Paris.
More recently, last week in Basel, Rune took to task the referee of his lost final against Félix Auger-Aliassime, accusing him of “destroying the match”, and chewing the traditional “F*** you”. Mohamed Lahyani in charge of the meeting replied very curtly: “Don’t talk like you did, I don’t want these kinds of words, have respect. »
Aggressive in his game, the Dane is just as aggressive in his expression on the pitch. Multiplying insults, devastating raised fists, looks towards his opponent, Rune defended himself in an interview with Extra Magazine “If you look at Roger Federer as a young man, he was 40 times worse than me, and he’s one of the most beloved players on the circuit now. I still have plenty of time to improve my image. “The 18th player in the world has already attempted a first reconciliation with Stan Wawrinka via Tweeter: “What a fight! Wawrinka is an incredible fighter and I’m very happy to be in the second round. »
Rune faces ATP number 10 Hubert Hurkacz this Wednesday for a place in the round of 16. To talk a little more about him?