Holger Rune tells Monte-Carlo crowd to quiet down, hit with unsportsmanlike conduct warning amid boos, argues with chair umpire in eventful QF clash

Holger Rune's campaign at the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters came to an end on Friday after the Dane fell to Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals in an eventful three-setter that saw a lot of on-court drama.

The opening set (6-4) went the Italian's way, with an early break of serve. The second set, though, was more closely contested, with both players holding serve until 5-5.

In Rune's next service game, he was hit with a time violation, which caused the Monte-Carlo crowd to cheer against him. The 20-year-old responded by telling them to quiet down, using his hands to make the gesture.

That, unfortunately, was not taken kindly by the chair umpire, who handed Rune a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct. Rune didn't think that it was fair to him and called for the supervisor to intervene and overturn the warning.

"Call the supervisor. You can’t give me a warning for this. I didn’t say a bad word. I went (hand gesture) to tell them to be quiet," Rune clarified.

The umpire responded by saying that even that's considered a form of disrespect, a sentiment the World No. 7 didn't agree with.

“Saying be quiet is a lack of respect,” the umpire said.

“You know what’s lack of respect? That they’re not quiet when I’m serving. Call the supervisor," Rune shot back.

The supervisor came on and had a conversation with Rune but didn't overturn the decision made by the umpire. The crowd, meanwhile, was not to be left behind as it booed the Dane even as he proceeded to hold his service game after saving three break points.

With Sinner also holding his next service game, the set was to be settled in the tiebreaker, where controversy struck again.

During the tiebreaker, one of Sinner's shots was called out, only for the chair umpire to overturn the call after checking the ball mark. That incensed Holger Rune further, who felt that too many things were going against his favor.

“You’re calling everything against me," Rune pointed out.

“I have nothing against you," the umpire reasoned.

“I’m also a person. So please respect me," Rune responded.

In the replay, Hawk-eye confirmed that the ball was indeed out, as Rune emphasized. It should be noted, though, that the electronic line-calling technology is not yet considered fully accurate for clay as of now.

Nevertheless, Holger Rune went on to win the tiebreaker to take the match into the decider, where Sinner prevailed 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3 to reach the semifinals.

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Holger Rune to drop out of top-10 after Monte-Carlo exit

Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters - Day Six

Holger Rune was the defending runner-up at Monte-Carlo this year, having reached the final last year before falling to Andrey Rublev. As a result of failing to defend those 600 points due to his quarterfinal exit this week, the Dane will drop out of the top-10 in the ATP rankings.

It's the first time in nearly 16 months that Holger Rune is falling out of the top-10. The highest he reached was World No. 4 last August, making him the highest-ranked man from Denmark in ATP history.

Meanwhile, Jannik Sinner continues his impressive streak in 2024, where he has registered only one loss (semifinals against Carlos Alcaraz at Indian Wells) and winning three titles (Australian Open, ABN AMRO Open and Miami Open). In the semifinals, the Italian will take on Stefanos Tsitsipas.