"Blaming women for their boyfriend's results is incredibly lame": Holger Rune hits back after criticism levied at girlfriend for poor form

Holger Rune defended his girlfriend, Caroline Donzella, stating that her poor physical condition has nothing to do with their relationship.

Rune went public with his relationship with Donzella earlier this year by sharing a series of photos and a video on social media where they were seen holding hands.

“Caroline is not to blame for my poor sports performance. That is only my responsibility. People only want to look for external factors & blame others, but only I am responsible,” world No. 6 said.

Since he began to encounter difficulties in his ATP circuit performance, Holger Rune's relationship has come under intense scrutiny. Despite reaching the quarterfinals at this year's Wimbledon Championship, Rune has failed to maintain a streak of consecutive victories in the seven tournaments that followed.

The last time we saw Rune in action was at the Shanghai Masters, where he faced an early exit, being defeated by Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round.

Rune recently shared a series of photos from his brief vacation just before tackling the final stretch of the 2023 season with European tournaments. In the pictures, the Danish player is seen with his girlfriend and sister, enjoying some well-deserved days of rest:

"A little bit of everything from this week good recovery and feeling healthy again. thank you to everyone helping me this week to get back on track. Now off to China, looking forward," he posted

Rune's upcoming challenges will take place at the ATP 500 Basilea Open, where he enters as the first seed and it will serve as preparation for his title defense in the following week at the Paris-Bercy Masters.

The points at stake hold special importance for the 20-year-old player, who currently stands at 8th place in the Race to the Finals, temporarily occupying the last spot for the year-end tournament. Just behind him is Taylor Fritz, with only a 100-point difference, and a bit further back, Casper Ruud and Hubert Hurkacz have good chances if they can achieve strong results in the remaining weeks.