"Got a little tired of hearing all the bitching and moaning": Connors recalls similar incident as Rune and sympathises with him

Former player Jimmy Connors backed Holger Rune after the Danish player's incident at the Madrid Open which saw him remove a mark that his opponent contested.

It was a heated clash between Rune and Fokina which saw the latter contest a mark that didn't go his way. Fokina was convinced by what he was saying however Rune grew tired of his complaining to the umpire who wouldn't overturn it and he went over and removed the mark. It resulted in the crowd booing him heavily.

Connors recalled a similar thing that happened in 1977 at the US Open where he did the same thing Rune did:

“It was at the US Open. It was a semifinal against Corrado Barazzutti. Guess [Holger] Rune kind of felt the same way as I did, got a little tired of hearing all the bitching and moaning about it. I just went rubbed it [the ball mark] out and then it was over.”

He then added:

“We went on but oh the admonishment that I got from the chair umpire, I felt really bad. Well, not so bad, I went on the win the match. But unfortunately, I did not win the tournament. I got to the final and lost to I think [Guillermo] Vilas.”