Holger Rune sticks up for Carlos Alcaraz as tennis star gets ‘s***’ on social media | Tennis | Sport

Holger Rune leapt to Carlos Alcaraz’s defence after learning that his rival had been struggling with negative comments on social media. The world No. 7 slammed those who wanted to “write some s***” about tennis players and explained why Alcaraz in particular didn’t deserve it.

Alcaraz made an emotional admission after his match in Indian Wells on Sunday, as he said he saw a lot of remarks about himself on social media and struggled to deal with the bad ones. After a poor run of form, the two-time Major winner also confessed that he struggled to be himself on the court.

One of his young rivals has now stuck up for him, as Rune questioned why anyone had anything negative to say about the world No. 2. Unlike Alcaraz, the Dane explained that he was better at steering clear of the online hate.

“Yeah, for sure, I try to avoid as much as possible to read the social media, to be honest,” Rune said. “I’m less and less myself on social media. I try to give back to all my fans. I think it’s important because it means a lot really.”

Although the 20-year-old believes that hate is part of being in the public eye as an athlete, he still sees it as a “joke”. Rune continued: “So I think it’s just a part of it, but, you know, I really think that, like, someone said, the comments that are made are way too much, and, you know, it’s online everything.

“You know, you would probably never see a person go up to another player’s face and say stuff like that in real life. I think you have to, you know, control a little bit what you’re saying, you know, even on social media. I think it’s important. I think for us players, you know, again, as I said, I can’t speak on behalf of all players, but I think, you know, it’s kind of a joke, really.”

And Rune gave an X-rated reaction as he responded to those who bet on matches gave grief to the player on the losing end. “Because, I mean, it’s just really people that are betting on the matches that, you know, probably lost a bet or something and they feel like they want to write some s***,” he added.