‘I AM A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED IN HOLGER RUNE,’ SAYS TENNIS PUNDIT

Holger Rune should have held up his hand following the double bounce during his French Open match against Francisco Cerundolo, according to Tim Henman although the Argentine himself says he “understands” why the Dane didn’t award him the point.

Sixth seed Rune booked his place in the quarter-final at Roland Garros with a 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) win over the Cerundolo on Monday.

However, there was drama in the fourth game of the third set when Rune was 2-1 up and Cerundolo serving at 40-40. The Argentine hit an approach shot deep and Rune scrambled to get there, but the ball bounced twice before he got his racket to it.

The Dane’s return looped into the air and his opponent appeared to stop playing as he waited for the umpire to make the call before eventually putting the ball away. While he stopped, the ball kid moved onto the court before retreating again.

There was no call from chair umpire Kader Nouni and the point went to Rune with the Dane eventually breaking serve.

Eurosport pundit Henman felt Rune should’ve acknowledged that the ball bounced twice.

“It is not an easy call for umpire, but I think both players knew that that ball had bounced twice, but the umpire didn’t make the call and the ball boy moved at the net and so then the umpire then called let,” he said during the post-match analysis.

“Cerundolo is saying ‘hang on a minute the ball bounced twice’ and that is clearly a double bounce. As a player he knows that and I am a little disappointed in Holger Rune. He’s young and perhaps that hasn’t happened to him too often. But for me double bounce and if the ball hits you, that’s your responsibility [to own up]. You can say it is the umpire’s call, I play to the umpire’s call, but for me the good sportsmanship is that.

“Actually Cerundolo did the same thing to [Andy] Murray at the US Open. There was a double bounce and he put his hand up and said ‘it bounced twice’ and I have a lot of respect for that.

“It was a tricky one and it ended up costing Cerundolo.”

Cerundolo, meanwhile, implored tennis to start using technology and admitted most of his frustration was with the official and not Rune.

“I don’t know why in tennis we don’t use it,” he said. “We have Hawkeye to check the bounces and you don’t have anything to check double bounces or if you touch the net or if you pass the racquet to the other side of the court.”

“It was unbelievable because it was a clear double bounce. I was mad with the umpire because he has to see it. He has to, I don’t know, check it again and he didn’t do anything, and I don’t know, I think it’s his fault.”

He added. “For the player, it’s tough to give the point away. I don’t know if he was sure [it] was double bounce or not, but it was a tough moment.

“It’s not good that he didn’t give me the point, but I understand what, I don’t know, the tension, and you want to win, and what he did, but I’m really mad with the umpire because they have to do something. Put cameras. Get the chance to look again [at] the point because you cannot do that mistake.”

2023-06-06T12:47:28Z dg43tfdfdgfd