The tennis season in 2024 has started and so have the controversies. After a thrilling Australian Open, eyes of the tennis world are on the tournaments coming up. However, a recent announcement of a special tournament in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has got the tennis community talking. Users on X had a field day after knowing that Holger Rune was included in the ‘6 Kings Slam’.
The ‘6 Kings Slam’ is set to be in October 2024. The likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz are scheduled to play in the event and they will be joined by US Open 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev and 2024 Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner. However, Holger Rune is also scheduled to play in the tournament. Interestingly, the Dane is the only one amongst the six players, to have not won a Grand Slam title yet.
The tennis community on X trolled the Saudi Arabian government as well as Holger Rune for including him in the ‘Six King Slams’. While many people thought Rune does not belong in this event, other’s joked that the Danish star has to win a Grand Slam before October 2024.
Nadal, Djokovic, Alcaraz, Sinner, Medvedev and Rune will participate in the newly created ‘6 Kings Slam’ exhibition for Riyadh Season, in Saudi Arabia, in October this year! pic.twitter.com/nCi1AN71Tk
— Olly (@Olly_Tennis_) February 5, 2024
Rune better win a GS before October
— Bon (@MineVerrzs) February 5, 2024
No offence to Rune… but I feel like Thiem should take his place for this event instead.
With a title called ‘6 KINGS’, you would expect the field to consist of Major Champions (or World No. 1s)…
— Nelson Tsang (@Nelsonator9000) February 5, 2024
Rune better win the French open lol
— … (@trialacct123) February 5, 2024
But Rune hasn’t even won a Grand Slam yet…
— Miijumaaru_ (@Miijumaaru_) February 5, 2024
Rune is going to end up with 0 sets won.
— Edmond Dantes (@BogdanRMCF) February 5, 2024
Why the hell is rune included?!? Lol. Bro got an imaginary slam
— Night Man (@NightMan144) February 5, 2024
Logically, they should replace Rune with a mid gen player, among the current top ten, Zverev and Tsitsipas have the best GS results, Tsitsipas has two finals, Zverev one. Ruud has three but he is out of top ten.
— Yaumiu (@NatalieTam15) February 6, 2024
What is Rune doing on this list?
— 伊曼紐爾 Babs (@finest_citizen) February 5, 2024
rune won a slam?
— Ender Wiggins (@Bvzpao) February 6, 2024
Rune has a lot of potential, but right now he is no “king”.
— Juan Manuel (@JuanMFernicola) February 5, 2024
The 6 Kings Slam is another attempt at Saudi Arabia looking to make more incisions in the world of tennis with an event of their own, even though it is set to not have ATP backing. The tournament could either clash with the Shanghai Masters 1000 or the Paris Masters 1000 event, which means that the big names of men’s tennis would miss one of the two events surely or even both altogether. In December 2023, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic played in an exhibition match in Riyadh as well, but the stakes are set to be higher in the October 2024 tournament.
Holger Rune is beleaguered and yet to prove himself
While Holger Rune has immense potential, he is yet to make a mark for himself. The 20-year-old Danish star reached the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon and French Open in 2023, and that is his best run at a Grand Slam tournament. Most recently, the young Dane was knocked out in the second round of the Australian Open 2024.
The 20-year-old suffered a loss at the hands of the unseeded French player, Arthur Cazaux in 4 sets. Now, with the French Open up next, Rune will look to change his fortunes with a Grand Slam title. Rune will have to shake off controversies such as severing ties with Severin Luthi after just two months of hiring him as coach, his behavior on court of being a ‘petulant child’ according to some tennis fans and his run-in with Stan Wawrinka on Netflix’s Break Point show.
More recently, Rune was booed by fans on court after retiring hurt due to an apparent arm injury or pain of sorts in the semifinals of the Open Sud de France 2024 ATP 250 event despite being the top seed.
