Holger Rune’s manager pours cold water on Stan Wawrinka ‘baby’ claims at Paris Masters first-round match

Aneke Rune – the mother and manager of Holger Rune – has said “it is hard to imagine that a sportsman like Stan would have said that” after it appeared that Stan Wawrinka chided Holger for “acting like a baby” during their dramatic first-round match at the Paris Masters.

Rune saved three match points to sneak past Wawrinka 4-6 7-5 7-6(3) and continue his impressive recent form – he is now 15-3 since the US Open.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka was seemingly not happy with Rune’s attitude during the match.

During the handshake at the net Wawrinka appeared to say to the 19-year-old: “My advice to you is that you stop acting like a baby on court.”

Rune’s manager and mother Aneke Rune was quoted by Danish outlet TV2 as responding to the apparent comments from Wawrinka by saying: “It is hard to imagine that a sportsman like Stan would have said that.

“Then he would come across as an uncommonly bad loser. Holger has only mentioned that he wished him well with the results of the past weeks.”

It wasn’t clear what exactly Wawrinka may have been referring to with his ‘baby’ comment, but it is not the first time Rune’s on-court behaviour has been criticised.

Last year he was fined for shouting alleged homophobic remarks during a match on the ATP Challenger Tour.

Rune was also involved in a bad-tempered clash with Casper Ruud at this year’s French Open.

Rune accused Ruud of a “lack of class” and said he shouted in his face after the quarter-final.

“How he creates the story of me shouting ‘YES’ straight into his face is just a lie. It never happened. It’s a big lie. It’s disappointing that he creates lies about me.

“For me it doesn’t matter if he thinks I am a player who doesn’t follow the fair play rules, that’s not really what matters.”

Ruud also said: “I don’t know Holger personally, but I have seen on TV that sometimes there can be a lot of drama. He’s young and new, so that’s excusable, but when you’re on a big stage, it might be time to grow up a bit.”

Rune wrote on social media after the match: “What a fight. @stanwawrinka is an incredible fighter and I am grateful be on to the second round.”

In response to another comment about his mother being in his coaching box, Rune added: “It’s the winning team, don’t worry. We know what we do.”

Rune faces 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz in the second round on Wednesday.