Stan Wawrinka is a 38-year-old tennis veteran who has managed to win three Grand Slams despite mostly playing in the ‘Big Three’ era. He is 18 years older than Danish tennis player Holger Rune. Yet, there is no love lost between the two players. This is why fans are trolling the 20-year-old for not showing any respect to the Swiss legend.
Holger Rune, who is currently ranked 8th in the ATP men’s singles world rankings, recently mocked Stan Wawrinka on the Netflix show ‘Break Point’. The Dane believes that Wawrinka is amongst those ‘old people’ who find it hard to accept that young players like Rune himself are the new stars in the circuit. However, this jibe was not out of nowhere. It all started at the Paris Masters in 2022.
Wawrinka, currently ranked 56, is clearly past his peak due to injuries in the last few years. Even after his comeback in 2022, Wawrinka lost to Rune in the first round of the Paris Masters 2022. The score was 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3). At the end of the match, Wawrinka whispered something distasteful to Rune.
“My advice to you is that you stop acting like a baby on court”, said Wawrinka to Rune after the match.
At the time, Rune, still a teenager, threw tantrums and had over-aggressive reactions after some of the points played, that didn’t go down well with the Swiss veteran. In return, Rune didn’t respond well to the comment and thus began their feud.
In their next encounter at the Indian Wells Masters 2023, Rune responded by returning a jibe at Wawrinka.
“You got nothing to say now?”, said Rune to Wawrinka, to which the Swiss replied, “What do you want me to say?”
As it turned out from there, the rivalry hasn’t dialed down one bit. The irony of their jibes is that every time someone took it, they lost that match. As did Rune to Wawrinka by 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 at Indian Wells in the third round last year.
Despite their intensifying rivalry which Wawrinka is also responsible for, tennis fans on social media are not happy with Rune’s words on the show. Their difference in their age and experience is something that Rune should learn to respect, according to them. They believe, that instead of continuing their war of words, Rune should pick Wawrinka’s brains and learn from his vast 20+ years of experience. So many of them have even trolled the 20-year-old.
Holger Rune or Stan Wawrinka: Whose chances look better at Australian Open?
Stan Wawrinka won the Australian Open in 2014, French Open in 2015, and the US Open in 2016. Each of them came against either Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic. Rune has yet to win a Grand Slam, which is part of the reason too, why fans weren’t very pleased with him. At the 2024 Australian Open, Rune is the 8th-seeded player whose first round match will be against Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan. Wawrinka, on the other hand, is scheduled to play Adrian Mannarino of France, who is the 20th seed.
Rune, who is having a purple patch, lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the finals of the recently concluded Brisbane International 2024 tournament. He turned things around towards the end of the 2023 season by replacing Patrick Mouratoglou with Boris Becker as his head coach. The Danish star made it to the semifinals of the Swiss Indoors, quarterfinals of the Paris Masters and nearly knocked out Novak Djokovic from the ATP Finals 2023. And before those tournaments, he had lost 9 out of the 10 matches he had played. At the Australian Open 2024, Rune’s first hurdle will mostly be the quarterfinals, as he could run into Daniil Medvedev.
On the other hand, Wawrinka made a comeback after a long time in the 2022 season and showed some promising signs. He reached the third round of Wimbledon but lost to Djokovic in straight sets. At the Croatia Open, Wawrinka fared well by reaching the ATP Final, his first since 2019. Unfortunately, he lost to Alexei Popyrin of Australia. It will be an uphill battle for Wawrinka as Mannarino is no pushover and tougher opponents would lie ahead of him even if he wins his first round match. Wawrinka could well meet Djokovic again in the fourth round if both the players make it and other results happen in a certain way.
