Holger Rune’s ‘scary’ mum directed an icy glare towards her own son in awkward scenes at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament on Monday.
The incident occurred in the Danish world No.14’s 4-6 6-4 6-3 second-round victory over Italian star Matteo Berrettini at a crucial moment in the match.
Rune was 4-3 ahead in the third set – and had break point – when his mother, Aneke Rune, appeared to try and coach him from the stands.
She pointed to an area of the court in which she thought Berrettini was going to serve but was ultimately incorrect.
Rune, after following his mum’s orders, sarcastically clapped and gave her a thumbs up, which resulted in the icy glare.
‘Holger Rune and his mum were not getting on,’ presenter Bela Shah said when analysing the incident for Sky Sports News.
‘She is scary!’ fellow Sky Sports presenter Pete Graves added. ‘No offence.’
‘How about this for a sarcastic thumbs up to mum?’ Shah added. ‘This face… I’ve seen that look from my mum before!’
Rune, seeded 12th at the Shanghai Masters, eventually went on to secure the victory to set up a last-32 meeting with Jiri Lehecka.
The 21-year-old is looking to land his first ATP Tour title of the year having lost the Brisbane International final in January to Grigor Dimitrov.
Rune has clinched four titles on the ATP Tour to date – most recently at the 2023 Bavarian Open – where he won the event for the second year in a row.
His other two titles came in 2022 at the Paris Masters and Stockholm Open respectively.
Rune was previously coached by Patrick Mouratoglou and Boris Becker but is now working with Kenneth Carlsen.