Tennis fans have reacted with confusion to US Open's fourth seed Holger Rune being put on Court 5 for his opening match at this year's New York Slam.
20-year-old Rune hit a few ATP Ranking milestones ahead of the US Open, breaking into the top 5 a week before he replaced Stefanos Tsitsipas as world No. 4. This latest development happened just in time for the Dane to be entered as the fourth seed at the last Grand Slam of the year.
Therefore, some fans reacted with surprise to Rune being put on Court 5, the 5th most important court, for his opening match against Roberto Carballés Baena.
The debate among fans began when Rune posted a site map of the US Open on X, formerly known as Twitter. He captioned the post:
"Usopen site map. In case you can find court 5, this is where I play my first match Monday followed by 11:00 @usopen #seeyou #lovemyfans #loveyoursupport."
Tennis journalist José Morgado then retweeted the post, writing:
"Gotta love Rune
(Court 5 is great, but putting your 4th seed in the 5th most important court is.. a choice)."
Some fans agreed with Morgado, with one referencing 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu.
"The USTA [United States Tennis Association] has a strange way of doing this. When Andreescu won IW [Indian Wells] and Canada in 2019, and was a top 3 contender in NY [New York], she started on court 10! Then court 5 for round 2. Won the title that year!"
However, others said that although Rune was the fourth seed, there are more well-known players at the New York major who deserve to be on the more important courts.
"Get a grip! When there’s Top 20 Americans, Legends playing, newbies move to smaller courts," wrote one.
Another responded to Morgado directly, commenting:
"4th seed means what??? You: Venus Williams sells tickets. You again: 4th seed in the 5th most important court(OUT OF 17!!) is a choice. He's not above playing on Court 5."
Gotta love Rune 🤣 (Court 5 is great, but putting your 4th seed in the 5th most important court is.. a choice)
Usopen site map. In case you can find court 5, this is where I play my first match Monday followed by 11:00 @usopen #seeyou #lovemyfans #loveyoursupport
