WTA Tour star Veronika Kudermetova has declared that it is “ugly and wrong” that her comments about the private messages she received from Holger Rune were made public.
Last year, Kudermetova appeared on the Spring is Calling podcast, which is hosted by Elena Vesnina — a Russian former player who reached world No 1 in doubles and 13 in singles.
Kudermetova, who is currently ranked 30th having reached a career-high of ninth in 2022, revealed former ATP world No 4 Rune had contacted her to express interest in her.
“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,” Kudermetova told Vesnina.
What did Veronika Kudermetova say about her Holger Rune comments?
In an interview with Russian website TI-Sport, Kudermetova explained that she thought her revelation about Rune would be kept private and admitted she was “so ashamed” when she saw the Dane at tournaments.
“Actually, I was really upset for a long time after that interview because it came out so ugly and wrong,” the Russian said.
“It was just a personal conversation between Elena Vesnina and me while we were setting up the cameras before the interview, and I didn’t think it would be included in the final episode.
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“So, the story about Rune was off-camera. I even asked them not to include that fragment. But the podcast ended up airing, and it was quite provocative.
“On the other hand, I knew I’d said nothing of the sort. Well, Rune texted me, and I replied that I had a husband. We both laughed, and that was it.
“The problem was that it became public knowledge, all the media covered it, and it turned into an ugly situation. Later, when I saw Rune at tournaments, I felt so ashamed in front of him. I wanted to go up to him and apologise.”
Kudermetova also divulged that Alexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov, who speak Russian, informed Rune of her comments.
“The boys — Sascha Zverev, Karen Khachanov — came up to him, translated everything for him, and then laughed. They even translated it all into English, so yes, it was in the public eye for a long time,” Kudermetova added.
Elena Vesnina has denied Veronika Kudermetova’s claim
Speaking to Tennis.com, Vesnina refuted Kudermetova’s claim that she had asked for the section of her talking about Rune to be excluded from the podcast.
“My interview with Veronika was one of the first I had done for my podcast last year,” Vesnina said.
“I would have never posted anything that my guest had a problem with or asked for me to remove, nor would my production team have put it on the air.”
“We discussed the comments with her straightaway after the interview and she didn’t tell us there was anything we couldn’t publish. But this situation has gotten out of control. For me, it was not necessary to bring so much attention to this situation.
“Veronika is not the only player to have told a story like this. I think we’ve all learned something from this. When it comes to Holger, I think it was a good lesson for him to be more careful.”
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