It was a double fault off the court by Holger Rune.
The Danish tennis star was allegedly shut down by Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova, who recently revealed on compatriot Elena Vesnina’s podcast that she rebuffed a message from Rune, 22, by making it clear she’s married.
“Rune recently texted me,” the 28-year-old Kudermetova said, as covered by U.K. outlet Express.
“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.’ Since then, he doesn’t even say hello to me anymore.”
Kudermetova has been married to her coach, Sergey Demekhine, since 2017.
Demekhine, 41, who also hails from Russia and played tennis professionally, has made various appearances on Kudermetova’s Instagram feed, including in July when they attended the Champions’ Dinner at Wimbledon.
Kudermetova and Belgian doubles partner Elise Mertens defeated Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko and Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei in the women’s doubles final last month, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
It marked Kudermetova’s first Grand Slam doubles win.
“When I finish the match, I mean, was so emotional. I even start to cry a little bit, but then I saw Elise. She cry, [so] OK, I have to hold my emotion!” she exclaimed after the match.
Rune, currently ranked ninth in the world, was ousted in the first round at Wimbledon after a five-set thriller against Chile’s Nicolás Jarry.
Both Rune and Kudermetova are competing at the National Bank Open, where the commentators briefly paused talk of the on-court action Thursday for some gossip.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard about this tea, this is totally not tennis related, but there was news that Holger Rune apparently texted Kudermetova, and she said she was too old for him and married,” a commentator said during Kudermetova’s Round of 32 singles loss to American Coco Gauff.
Kudermetova and Mertens will face Russian Alexandra Panova and China’s Guo Hanyu in the Round of 16 doubles Friday in Montreal, where the women’s tournament is taking place, while Rune squares off against Australia’s Alexei Popyrin Saturday in the Round of 16 singles in Toronto.