World No.8 Holger Rune has been caught out for a juvenile act as his frustrations began to boil over at the Australian Open.
The 20-year-old was a set and a break down against fellow 20-year-old Arthur Cazaux in their second-round match on Thursday night when his performance began to get to him.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Holger Rune caught out in juvenile act.
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Changing ends after being broken, Rune struck a microphone positioned at the back of the umpire’s chair and walked on as if nothing had happened.
The Danish young gun strangely appeared confused to be pulled up by Marijana Veljovic and given a code violation.
“He had that coming, because he effectively hit the umpire’s chair,” Nick Lester said in commentary.
Replay footage clearly showed Rune intentionally raised his racquet to knock off the audio device.
Hitting an umpire’s chair is considered a serious offence in tennis, with more violent racquet smashes landing Alexander Zverev and Michael Ymer in hot water in recent years.
Rune’s lighter indiscretion was followed by a conversation with Veljovic that went unheard on the broadcast as a result of the damage he caused.
“This is always an indication to the other end that you’ve got your opponent under pressure,” Australian doubles great John Fitzgerald said.
“You can’t touch anything (on the umpire’s chair) but it wasn’t too vicious. Look, I’m sure there’d be no real penalties for that.
“Maybe there will but I would doubt it. You’ve just got to let him know, though.”
Rune’s night didn’t improve from there as Cazaux consolidated the break and went on to take a two-sets-to-love lead — something the Dane has never overcome in grand slam tennis.
He left the court between sets in a bid to reset his hopes of reaching a major quarter-final for the fourth time.
“Rune is a little bit lost, isn’t he?” Fitzgerald said.
“But these are long matches. There’s a long way to go. He’s going to have to win a close set here, you’d think. Sometimes it turns fast. If you get ahead in the third set, get up a break, momentum changes.”
Cazaux’s lead put him in pole position to face 28th seed Tallon Griekspoor in the third round.
