{"id":297768,"date":"2023-05-17T21:53:12","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T21:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=297768"},"modified":"2023-05-17T23:58:58","modified_gmt":"2023-05-17T23:58:58","slug":"new-tennis-bad-boy-shocks-world-no-1-djokovic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=297768","title":{"rendered":"New tennis 'bad boy' shocks world No.1 Djokovic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic<\/a> sees a bit of himself in Holger Rune<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old Danish player is solid in nearly every area: A great mover and super fit physically, he's strong off both his forehand and backhand, has good hands and is an aggressive returner.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that's why Rune has now recorded two victories over Djokovic in little more than six months, beating the 22-time grand slam champion 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the Italian Open<\/a> semi-finals.<\/p>\n

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Rune, who also defeated Djokovic in the Paris Masters final in November, gave the Serb fits with his rapid court coverage. He made his opponent hit extra balls on points that Djokovic thought he had already finished off.<\/p>\n

\"Novak<\/p>\n

Djokovic said the consistently damp conditions at the Foro Italico this week were challenging for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn these kind of conditions, it\u2019s very difficult to get the ball past him,\u201d Djokovic said.<\/p>\n

"He\u2019s very, very fast, very quick. Great anticipation. Just a very talented, dynamic player, all-round player.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just better. He played too good for me for most part of the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe kept his nerves and deserved to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike the win in Paris, which was a breakthrough moment for Rune, this one felt like a confirmation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s working against Novak, it works against almost anybody,\u201d Rune said of his performance.<\/p>\n

\"Holger<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old Djokovic didn\u2019t appear at his best physically early on and called for a trainer after holding for a 2-1 lead in the second set.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t immediately clear what the issue was but it appeared that Djokovic swallowed a pill that the trainer gave him.<\/p>\n

Djokovic recently returned after three weeks off because of a lingering issue with his surgically repaired right elbow. He\u2019s preparing for Roland-Garros, which starts in 11 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I can always play better,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cI always like my chances in Grand Slams against anybody on any surface, best-of-five.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rune, meanwhile, is boosting his credentials as a grand slam contender after a solid season on clay that included a runner-up finish in the Monte Carlo Masters, a title in Munich, and now a semi-final spot in his first main draw appearance in Rome.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to win a grand slam this year,\u201d Rune said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it can be achieved at the French Open. If not, I hope to make it in the other two grand slams.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/TennisTV\/status\/1658860426619392001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Rune got into a heated exchange with the chair umpire about a disputed call during the second set. When the umpire refused to change the call despite Rune saying that the mark on the clay showed that Djokovic\u2019s shot was out, he lost his cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you get punished when you make mistakes? You don\u2019t. So please respect the player,\u201d Rune said to the umpire, Mohamed Lahyani.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an absolute joke.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Rune\u2019s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, motioned from the stands for his player to calm down, Rune then said to nobody in particular, \u201cIt\u2019s always the umpire who makes me look like the bad guy".<\/p>\n

Afterward, when Rune was asked about the dispute, he said: \u201cApparently I was right because I saw the Hawk-Eye after the match and it was out".<\/p>\n

He also took issue when he was asked about his reputation as the game's \u201cbad boy".<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see myself as the bad boy at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI play with a lot of passion and energy when I\u2019m on the court… I don\u2019t know why that should be a bad boy thing, to play with energy on the court.<\/p>\n

"A bad boy thing is to break rackets and stuff like this. If I remember well, I don\u2019t break a racket when I play.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic sees a bit of himself in Holger Rune. The 20-year-old Danish player is solid in nearly every area: A great mover and super […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":297770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297768"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=297768"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":297773,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297768\/revisions\/297773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/297770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=297768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=297768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=297768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}