“If you can find place 5”
Young tennis star Rune pays dearly for an attack of arrogance
08/29/2023, 07:09 am
Holger Rune is one of the most exciting tennis players of his generation, but the Dane won’t be able to show that at the US Open this year: The fourth in the world rankings is eliminated in the first round. Earlier he made it clear that he doesn’t like the stage for his first round match.
Fourth in the world rankings Holger Rune failed in the first round at the US Open. The young tennis star lost 3: 6, 6: 4, 3: 6, 2: 6 against the Spaniard Roberto Carballés Baena. During the game, Rune had his left thigh treated in the third set. The 20-year-old had recently reached the quarter-finals at the French Open and Wimbledon. Since the lawn classic in mid-July, however, he has not won a match.
Rune had mockingly commented on the schedule for the game against Carballés Baena in 5th place away from the big stadiums in New York. Posting a map of the facility on X, formerly Twitter, he wrote, “If you can find Court 5, that’s where I’m going to play my first match on Monday.”
In the comments below the Dane’s poorly aged post, numerous malicious reactions quickly accumulated after the disappointing performance: “Now you can thank @usopen for limiting the number of disappointed fans who saw this miserable show,” wrote one user. “Fortunately, much better games have been scheduled in the top seats.”
Parallel to the Runes encounter, former US Open champion Dominic Thiem played against Alexander Bublik on the much larger grandstand. Last year, the organizers sent Casper Ruud, fifth in the world rankings, into the tournament in 12th place. This time, shortly after Rune’s bankruptcy, the Norwegian, three-time Grand Slam finalist, defeated the outsider Emilio Nava in 17th place, the largest of the side courts far from the stadiums. Andrey Rublev, who was seeded number 9 in 2022, also had to get to number 5 at the time.