“I was really upset after that interview”: Veronika Kudermetova reflects on Rune DMs going public

Russian tennis player Veronika Kudermetova recently expressed regret over publicly revealing the occasion when Holger Rune contacted her on social media, and said she hopes to apologize to the Danish player. The former world No. 9 had revealed months ago in an interview that Rune had messaged her and that she had to clarify that she was married, a situation that was widely reported following an interview with Elena Vesnina.

The Russian player described the unusual situation during that interview with Vesnina, involving the former world No. 4. “Rune recently texted me. I told him, ‘Boy, I’m probably too old for you. If you looked at my Instagram, you’d see I have a husband.’ He replied, ‘Oh, sorry.’ After that, he stopped saying hi to me.”

The 28-year-old, who has been married to her tennis coach Sergei Demekhine for eight years, recently explained in an interview with Tatar Russia that her revelation about Rune was made privately and “completely off-camera,” but was ultimately included — against her wishes — in the podcast episode.

The story resonated beyond the podcast and was even mentioned during her match in Montreal, drawing attention from commentators and fans alike. “Actually, I was really upset after that interview and stressed over it for a very long time, because it came out looking ugly and wrong,” Kudermetova said.

“It was a private conversation with Lena Vesnina while the cameras were being set up before the actual interview — I never thought they would include it. So the story about Rune was completely off-camera. I even specifically asked them to leave that part out. But in the end the podcast came out, and it turned out quite provocative.”

“On the other hand, I knew I hadn’t actually said anything wrong. Rune wrote to me, and I replied that I have a husband. We both laughed, and that was the end of it. The problem was that it became public, all the media reported on it, and it turned into this ugly situation.”

“Afterwards, every time I saw Rune at tournaments, I felt so ashamed. I really wanted to go up to him and apologize.”