ATP Finals umpire gives crowd ultimatum as Holger Rune booed after unusual review incident

There was more booing at the ATP Finals on Thursday night as the crowd jeered Holger Rune following an unusual video review incident in his match against Jannik Sinner. The world No 8 tried to challenge his own serve but the umpire claimed he requested the challenge too late and used VAR-style technology to check whether he did raise his arm in time. When his challenge request was dismissed again, the fans continued to boo when Rune tried to serve and the umpire stepped in, giving the fans an ultimatum to make them stop.

Several players have already been booed inside the Pala Alpitour at this week's ATP Finals. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Taylor Fritz were jeered for injury-related reasons - the Greek star for retiring from his second round-robin match after just three games, and second alternate Fritz for playing an exhibition set while he was struggling physically. And Novak Djokovic felt the wrath of the crowd while facing home hope Sinner.

Rune became another player to face boos while taking on Sinner as they contested the last round-robin match of the Green Group. The 20-year-old came from a set down to force a decider and was serving at 1-1 in the second set when he tried to challenge one of his own serves. But chair umpire Aurelie Tourte said Rune's challenge came after Sinner hit a huge return, meaning it was too late.

"You ran to that shot and then you challenged," she responded. With the ATP Finals using video review technology, the world No 8 asked the umpire to replay the moment and see whether he challenged in time. Throughout the time Rune was at the chair speaking to Tourte, there were plenty of jeers and whistles.

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Inside the arena, Prime Video pundit Daniela Hantuchova said the fans were going wild as she backed the umpire's decision after watching the video replay on the big screens. "This is fascinating because I think it’s a first and the crowd is going crazy," the former world No 5 said.

"She’s right, 100 per cent. He moved to the ball, missed it and then he raised his arm. Here we have every citizen of Torino going against [Rune]." The 20-year-old stayed by Tourte's chair to try and argue his case but nothing could be done, with the booing only intensifying. 

"I can’t give you the challenge, we reviewed it, we see that you raised [your arm] after. It’s too late," she explained. Rune eventually conceded and went back to the baseline, sarcastically clapping the crowd and giving them a thumbs up as they jeered. But it continued as he stepped up to serve, meaning the Dane had to wait before he could carry on playing.