French Open: Holger Rune in double-bounce controversy – ‘The umpire has made a huge mistake’

Rising star Holger Rune got caught up in a double-bounce controversy during his fourth-round match with Francisco Cerundolo at the 2023 French Open on Monday.

Umpire Kader Nouni did not spot the fact that the ball clearly bounced twice at a very crucial moment in the fourth game of the third set of the encounter, as Cerundolo slammed a forehand into the open court with Rune well out of position at deuce.

What should have been a point to Cerundolo somehow turned into his opponent benefiting as Nouni did not spot the double-bounce and then penalised the Argentine for stopping before he put away the resulting smash with a ball kid having already entered the court.

Of course, the reason Cerundolo halted his advance to the net was because he saw the double-bounce, with the ball kid having clearly assumed the point had been won when they entered the court too.

It was a farcical situation and one that left the crowd, Cerundolo and Eurosport commentators Barry Cowan and Naomi Cavaday totally stunned.

“Oh, my goodness, oh my goodness!” exclaimed Cowan.

“Controversy here. Lots to pick out in this point. Clearly, it double-bounced. But then also, why is he playing too? Is it because the ball kid moved? I see loads of ball kids move.

“Well, well, well. The umpire has made a huge mistake here. Would he have known that that was a double-bounce, Rune?

“Oh, so he penalised Cerundolo? But he didn’t stop, unless he said something, because I’ll see players stop in a point, and then all of a sudden they give them the fake.”

Cavaday added: “Oh, no! Maybe it was because Cerundolo stopped playing. A big mistake and it’s so costly!

“He stopped before he hit the final shot because there was the double bounce from Rune. He hadn’t picked the ball up.”

It was a huge turning point in the match because Rune immediately won the next point to break Cerundolo’s serve and then went on to clinch the third set to re-take the overall advantage.

After the match, Rune said “this is sports” when asked to give his reaction to the double bounce.

He said: “When I was hitting the ball, I just ran for it. But then obviously when I saw it, after he did call it, I saw it after the next point on the TV, and I saw it was a double bounce.

“But the point already happened and he called the score.

“So I felt sorry. Sorry for him. But this is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Eurosport tennis expert Boris Becker thought umpire Nouni made a “wrong decision”.

“I saw the scene exactly in slow motion,” he said. “There is no question that it bounced twice. Cerundolo saw that and therefore stopped. In my opinion, it was a wrong decision against Cerundolo.

“The player [Rune] has noticed that 100 per cent, the question is: Do you admit that? There are professionals who do that and others who do not.

“But it is the referee’s job, because he made the mistake here, not the player.”

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