Umpire gives Holger Rune mid-match talking to as Madrid Open crowd boos Dane in between serves - 'I told you once'
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Updated 01/05/2023 at 18:45 GMT
It was an eventful evening in the Spanish capital after Holger Rune was beaten by local hero Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 7-6 (1) 5-7 7-6. Rune incurred the fury of the crowd after getting involved in a FoxTenn replay debate. Up next for Davidovich Fokina is a match against Borna Coric in the last-16 as he bids to reach a second Masters quarter-final of the season.
'I'm going to tell you one thing' - Umpire gives Rune advice as Madrid crowd boo Dane
Holger Rune bowed out of the Madrid Open in a controversial fourth-round defeat to home favourite Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, which saw the Dane booed in between first and second serves and given a mid-match talking to by the chair umpire.
It was a dramatic tussle between the duo, with Rune and Davidovich Fofana receiving treatment for wrist and upper leg injuries respectively, but one particular incident appeared to get the Madrid crowd riled.
A FoxTenn replay in the first set was disputed by Davidovich Fokina, who argued with umpire Carlos Bernardes and an ATP supervisor.
Rune also got involved with the debate and questioned the mark used in the replay, something which seemed to incur the wrath of the crowd backing their Spanish star.
The aftermath saw Rune booed when the Dane stepped up to take a serve, even between first and second serves, and the umpire had a few advisory words for the 20-year-old.
Carlos Bernades said: “I'm going to tell you one thing and that's it for the whole match. I told you once in Monte Carlo, but that was fine. There are crowds that you cannot control if you do things like that. They will be worse if you keep doing it. If you just play tennis, they don’t do anything else.”
"I didn't do anything," Rune replied. "Did I complain to you one time?"
Rune tweeted on Monday night with his take on the situation. He wrote: "There was a lot of talk about bad behaviour among Spanish fans last night.
"Yesterday the crowd didn't understand what was going on. You cannot overrule a computer call. And it took the umpire and supervisor [a] very long time to explain this to my opponent.
"And they didn't bother to communicate this to the crowd. Next time I will take a nap while they discuss.
"Just want to say that personally I hold nothing against the Spanish people and I look forward to come back to [the Madrid Open]."
Davidovich Fokina reflected on the match as a whole and admitted that the incident helped to steer him to victory in a match that finished after 1am.
“Mentally and physically, it was very hard,” he said in his on-court interview. “Rune is a very good player. There were always tough games and we had to stay focused on every serve because you never know when you’ll have break points.
“I had my chances in the third set, but I had a lot of tension and was a little bit anxious to finish the point. I did it well, and I’m very happy.”
“When that happened, the crowd, the people, were more full with me,” he explained.
“I felt their energy and I was like, ‘I don’t want to go home. I want to win this game. It doesn’t matter if I’m cramping or if I have a lot of tension, but I want to win.’”
“I don’t know what hour it is, but it’s incredible that people stayed here and supported me. I appreciate them a lot because it’s not easy to stay here at one o’clock on Sunday.”
Up next for Davidovich Fokina is a match against Borna Coric in the last-16 as he bids to reach a second Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season.
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