World No. 6 Holger Rune is struggling to find form as he goes through the worst patch of his career. The Norwegian has managed just one tour-level win since his quarter-final exit at Wimbledon at the hands of the eventual champion and his good friend Carlos Alcaraz.
The 20-year-old recently said that the ongoing back injury isn’t allowing him to play at the level he wanted and highlighted that resolving the issue is his priority. But the fans haven’t taken kindly to his dip in form, as they blamed his family for it, going as far as taking to social media to threaten them.
Earlier, Rune’s sister had cautioned people on social media against sending online threats, saying that they would be reported to the police. She warned against the severe consequences, emphasizing that it didn’t hurt to be nice to others. Now, Rune’s mother, Aneke, has called on the tennis authorities to step in to protect the players from online abuse.
Rune jumped out in support of his girlfriend as he defended her, saying, “Caroline is not to blame for my poor sports performance. That is only my responsibility. People only want to look for external factors and blame others, but only I am responsible.”
Speaking on the ATP Tennis Radio podcast, Aneke sympathized with the importance of social media in the digital age. “I read a lot of analysis about social media. We cannot get rid of it because it’s part of the interaction for young people, which is good. It’s a way for the fans to interact with their idols, which is super good,” she remarked.
For context, his sole victory in 2023 season came against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the round of 32 of the China Open. The latest disappointment came at the hands of Serbian pro Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round of the ATP 250 BNP Paribas Nordic Open in Stockholm, Sweden.
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Talking about the abuse players and their families suffer on social media, Rune’s mom said, “The bad thing about social media is, there are so many fake accounts that write s***. If it was like an honest profile saying, ‘I dislike what you do,’ then it’s fair. But, in nine out of 10, it’s like fake profiles that go write whatever they like. And it’s a really nasty thing – it can be death threats, it can be a lot of bad things they write.”
Aneke went on to state that while some of the users were blocked, others were reported to the police if they were serious threats. She further called on the social media teams of tennis authorities to block the hateful comments.
“If ATP runs an Instagram site, they should be able to block whatever is hate. Hate is not part of the serious debate. I think the one who runs the site has an obligation to block these ones out,” she remarked.
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