Anna Kalinskaya had a good laugh this week while brushing off some persistent attention from fellow tennis pro Holger Rune.
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The 26-year-old Russian player, who previously dated Italy's Jannik Sinner, said in an interview with First&Red that she has ignored "a couple" of tennis players over the years — and Rune, 22, was one of them.
"Tennis players, more often before," Kalinskaya said of being asked out by colleagues. "Now I'm older. I don't know, for some, it's just no chance at all. No need to write. Someone wrote like 10 times and then gave up."
Kalinskaya laughed while making the remark, and Rune did not exactly deny it. Instead, he responded with his own spin.
"We might have cultural differences that make Anna read a comment on a story as an invitation to a date," Rune wrote on social media, adding a winking emoji. "If I want to go on a date, I ask for a date. Don't worry."
Ha ha ha. We might have cultural differences that make Anna read a comment on a story as an invitation to a date 😜 if I want to go on a date, I ask for a date . Don’t worry
— Holger Rune (@holgerrune2003) September 9, 2025
Kalinskaya's comments follow a recent story from another Russian star, Veronika Kudermetova, who also said Rune had messaged her.
"Rune recently texted me," Kudermetova, 28, told the 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.
The Russian interview was translated by Pro Football Network.
