"This is fair? He has nothing to do except keeping an eye on the court!" - Holger Rune enraged by chair umpire's mistake during defeat to Felix Auger-Aliassime in Basel final
Holger Rune has blamed the chair umpire for negligence during his Swiss Indoors Basel final loss to Felix Auger-Aliassime on Sunday.
The Danish player, who was contesting his third back-to-back final, lost out on a second straight title to Auger-Aliassime, who won his third consecutive title with a straight-sets 6-3, 7-5 win.
Rune was, however, not happy with the way he lost the summit clash and suggested that the chair umpire made a “huge mistake” during a crucial moment in the match. The 19-year-old argued that the umpire failed to notice the background-screen flickering which would have counted as 'let' and prompted a replay of the point.
The incident happened when Auger-Aliassime claimed the opening set and the duo were tied in the second set at Deuce 6-3, 5-5 (40-40). Although Rune proceeded to gain an advantage in the game after the error, he eventually lost the service game to give the Canadian an all-important break in the final moments. He was enraged and had an altercation with the chair umpire on the court.
"What the f*ck are you doing? You must be f*cking kidding me. F*ck you. How can you not see this? Man, it’s 40 all something, five all (in the) second set, final, you made the biggest mistake man, and you don’t even look at me. You're too proud to look at me. You're like a king," Holger Rune protested.
Angry Holger Rune 😳 https://t.co/WSxyIhPBRr
The umpire responded by saying that had he seen the distraction, he would have called let. After the loss, Rune continued his argument on social media.
“So this is fair? With (automatic) line calls what is the umpire doing if not keeping an eye on this ???” he tweeted.
@FrantzVignot So this is fair? With automatically line calls what is the umpire doing if not keeping an eye on this ??? https://t.co/BNl5zb2D5N
“Before you talk sh*t. See this. Is that a good job considering there are automatically line call and he has nothing to do except keeping an eye on the court! And then at a very crucial time during the match,” he said in reply to a fan.
@ShirleyHartt @TheTennisTalker Before you talk shit. See this . Is that a good job considering there are automatically line call and he has nothing to do except keeping an eye on the court ! And then at a very crucial time during the match https://t.co/Y6WLUaTmkO
“Clearly a mistake from the umpire not to make the point replayed. It’s his job to follow the match. The rules is replay!” Rune ranted on social media.
@PatrickStoski @johnniestephen @RolexPMasters @MouratoglouAcad @mikejamestennis @TeamM_Analytics @pmouratoglou @atptour Clearly a mistake from the umpire not to make the point replayed . It’s his job to follow the match. The rules is replay !
Holger Rune will next feature in Paris and Milan
Holger Rune is set to compete at the Paris Masters next, which gets underway on Monday in the French capital. The Dane has drawn former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in the Round of 64 in the final Masters 1000 of the season.
With his run in Basel, the teenager has made the top-20 debut and reached a career-high ranking of World No. 18. Rune has already qualified for the Next-Gen ATP Finals, set to be held in Milan from November 8-12, and leads the line-up after 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz and 21-year-old Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal.
Also Check Out: Felix Auger-Aliassime Net Worth