Holger Rune issued a salty dig at Nicolas Jarry after being knocked out of Wimbledon in the opening round. The eighth seed was in cruise control after winning the first sets 6-4, 6-4. But his Chilean opponent rallied to cause an upset on Court 3 – coming from two sets down to book his place in round two.
Rune wasn’t alone in being one of the highest ranked players sent home. Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Federico Cerundolo also suffered shock defeats on the opening day.
But Rune was the most salty at losing in round one. Asked if the hot conditions played a part in his downfall, Rune said: “Not at all. I mean, if I play normal, I’m beating him nine out of ten times, with all respect for Nicolas Jarry. Obviously today didn’t make it a lot easier with my knee, but yeah, it was not great.”
Instead, the Dane blamed a knee injury for his loss. He added: “Yeah, I think I started all right in the match playing well. Then third set, a bit unlucky. Fourth set I started to feel my knee and then got some treatment. Yeah, never was able to serve and hit my backhand as I was, you know, able to do in the first two sets.
“I’ve had it before. I have not had it for a long time. I don’t know. I know what it is, and especially being extremely low on the grass, it can bother that area. You know, obviously didn’t expect it to come back, but that can happen, yeah.”
In complete contrast, No. 9 seed Medvedev was a lot more humble following his loss to Benjamin Bonzi.
He said: “I felt him playing very well. I felt like I didn’t play too bad. So yeah, I don’t see much I could do better. I mean, it’s grass, so I could serve better on the tiebreaks.
“But, I mean, surprised by his level. I know that he can play well. I mean, it’s just after the match, so I need to see the video and be sure about what I say. I would be surprised if you find a match of him playing like this any other match this year. I’m surprised he did today. But it can happen. That’s when sensations happen.”
To be the first to receive the latest Wimbledon news, join our WhatsApp community or Wimbledon newsletter
