"Anything to favor Jannik Sinner it's sick", "What'd you propose?": Fans debate amid Holger Rune's cramped QF schedule at rain-hit Monte-Carlo Masters

Tennis fans on the internet recently registered their discontent over Holger Rune's cramped quarterfinal schedule at the Monte-Carlo Masters 2024.

Holger Rune fought two tough opponents to reach the quarterfinals after having received a bye in the first round. On Wednesday, April 10, he met India's Sumit Nagal, who pushed him to three sets in a rain-hit encounter.

The Dane won his battle against Nagal 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 on Thursday and faced Grigor Dimitrov a couple of hours later. Rune fought against Dimitrov for a staggering three hours and 31 minutes as he salvaged a win in another three-setter, that witnessed two tiebreaks.

In the quarterfinals, he is slated to take on in-form Jannik Sinner in the first half of Friday, April 12. One set of tennis buffs on X (formerly Twitter) recently slammed the organizers for putting the Dane against Sinner in the day session.

A fan claimed it was done deliberately to benefit Sinner's chances, writing:

"Anything to favour Jannik it's actually sick."

"So Rune had to play two matches today (one of them lasted 3 and half hours) and is up second tomorrow??? That’s just bad scheduling," wrote another fan.

At this, a third fan voiced a rebuttal by highlighting Holger Rune's doubles duties at Monte-Carlo Country Club. Notably, he is also scheduled to play doubles quarterfinals alongside Taylor Fritz later in the evening on Friday. Hence, the fan defended the organizers, saying:

"He also has doubles…. What would you propose they do?"

Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans on X:

"Barely giving Holger any rest, the establishment once again working in favor of Sinner."

"I think a lot of people aren't reading the bottom box for court des princes... Holger still has a dubs match tomorrow as well, hence why the singles is earlier."

"Has doubles to play…"

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Holger Rune leads Jannik Sinner 2-1 in terms of head-to-head

Jannik Sinner (L) and Holger Rune shake hands.

Holger Rune might be more tired than Jannik Sinner walking into the quarterfinals of the Monte-Carlo Masters 2024 but he can benefit from the psychological advantage of his 2-1 lead over the Italian in terms of the head-to-head. Also, he defeated the Italian 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the tournament's semifinal last year.

Rune notably earned his first win over Sinner in the semifinals of the Sofia Open 2022 (ATP 250). He suffered his solitary loss to the World No. 2 in a group-stage match at the ATP Finals 2023.

However, Sinner has been in impeccable form over the last couple of months. He has only lost one match out of the 25 he's played in the 2024 season. He won both his previous rounds against Sebastian Korda and Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets.