Nobody could confuse Holger Rune for sportsman of the year. In his relatively young career, the 20-year-old from Denmark has been accused of taking officiating into his own hands, calling more than his fair share of tactical medical timeouts, making up bizarre stories about some of the kindest players on tour, and barking at his mother while she sat in the player’s box.
Rune has been nothing but transparent in forgoing niceties and sportsmanship in exchange for expediency to get to the top — something he’s fully earned at his current and career-high ranking of #6 in the world. It can be a refreshing attitude in a sport like tennis that is full of competitors who frequently brush on a few too many coats of varnish.
That is, until that rebellious opportunism comes off as cheating.
And that’s exactly what happened in his 4th round Roland Garros match against 24 year-old Argentine Francisco Cerundolo. At a critical moment of the third set, one set all, with Rune up 2-1, deuce, Rune simply did not get to the ball in time. Although it was clear to everyone in real-time, the second bounce was not picked up by chair umpire Kader Nouni. Cerundolo couldn’t believe it. It wound up costing him his service game, and eventually the set. Rune went on to win in a match just one minute shy of four hours in a super tiebreak.
On Twitter, the incident sparked a debate about sportsmanship and its decline over the years. There were the usual suspects: “Bad calls even out over the course of a match.” and “It’s just one point out of 339!” Some demanded fines for Nouni and Rune. And others called for players to display greater doses of sportsmanship when officiating fails, with one saying, “Can’t remember the last time a player conceded a point on a double bounce. Fair play is gone. They all leave it up to the chair umpire to make the call.”
But last year, in the first round of the U.S. Open, Andy Murray was the beneficiary of such an act of good sportsmanship. His opponent, serving to stay in the first set at 4-5, charged forward to scrape up a soft angle volley Murray massaged over the net. Murray stopped play insisting it had been a double bounce while his opponent celebrated winning the point. It was extremely close, but the chair umpire didn’t see it in Murray’s favor. In his most Andy Murray way, he expressed how annoyed he was, but didn’t press the matter.
Meanwhile, on the big screens of Louis Armstrong stadium, his opponent watched the replay from a couple of different angles and saw that it was, in fact, a double bounce. He conceded the point to Murray, which put him down 0-30 and just two points away from dropping the first set. Murray went on to handily win that match in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.
In his post-match press conference, Murray’s opponent said he had no idea it was a double bounce until he saw the video replay. “I had to give him the point. Of course I will do it today and I will do it many more days. If it happens again,” he said. “It’s how I am. I’m not going to steal a point. Of course I’m not gonna win a point if I lost it.”
Oh, Murray’s opponent that day? Francisco Cerundolo.
