Tennis fans have been left amused by Holger Rune 'liking' criticism of his coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
Rune recently rehired former coach Mouratoglou after ending his partnership with Boris Becker and Severin Luthi following a disappointing 2024 Australian Open campaign.
The Dane previously worked with Mouratoglou from October 2022 to April 2023, during which he won the 2022 Paris Masters title, beating World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the final.
The two split after the Sunshine Double before Mouratoglou returned to work with Rune during the clay court season alongside Lars Christensen. At the end of the North American hard court season last year, they seemingly parted ways again, with Rune hiring Becker in October.
While Rune's on-and-off partnership with Mouratoglou has bemused fans, the 20-year-old recently 'liked' a post on X (formerly Twitter) making fun of the French coach.
"A dilemma. I like Holger Rune. I can't stand the sight of big head Mouratoglou," read the post that Rune liked.
Fans were quick to notice this, with one stating that the youngster needs to keep up such antics.
"Need him to keep it up and be the messiest b***h possible more than i need air tbh," said a fan.
Another fan opined that Rune is using the social media platform the way it is meant to be used.
"Holger is the only tennis player who uses Twitter the way it's supposed to be used," read one post.
Here are some more fan reactions:
Holger Rune's 2024 season: A recap
Holger Rune has endured a mixed start to the 2024 season.
He began the year at the Brisbane International, where he beat the likes of Max Purcell, Alexander Shevchenko, James Duckworth, and Roman Safiullin to reach the final. He, however, finished as the runner-up after going down in straight sets to Grigor Dimitrov.
Rune got his Australian Open campaign underway with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 win against Yoshihito Nishioka before losing 7-6(4), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3) to Arthur Cazaux in the second round.
Later, at the ATP 250 event in Montpellier, the Dane reached the semifinals, beating Pablo Llamas Ruiz and Michael Mmoh before losing to eventual runner-up Borna Coric.
Rune was most recently in action at the Rotterdam Open, where he began the tournament with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 win against Roman Safiullin. He couldn't progress past the Round of 16, as Shevchenko got his revenge for the Melbourne defeat by winning 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.