Popular Tennis Parody Account Down After Holger Rune Complaints

A popular tennis parody account just went dark after Holger Rune called it out – and the timing suggests the Danish player might have more power than anyone expected.

Tennis Centel had been making waves on X with over 703,000 followers. The account copied the playbook from NBA Centel, posting obviously fake tennis news that was meant to be funny.

But not everyone was laughing.

The account split tennis fans right down the middle. Some thought it was harmless fun – after all, the posts were clearly meant as jokes. Others worried about spreading misinformation in a sport that’s already dealing with plenty of drama.

Nick Kyrgios was definitely in the first camp. The Australian loved when Tennis Centel managed to fool actual broadcasters with their fake stories.

One time, the Tennis Channel actually read a completely made-up Andy Murray announcement about Novak Djokovic on air. Kyrgios found that pretty hilarious.

Things Got Personal

But Tennis Centel wasn’t just posting random fake news. They went after journalist Ben Rothenberg, criticizing some of his past work and starting a pretty nasty back-and-forth.

Rothenberg fired back, calling the account bad for tennis. That feud probably didn’t help Centel’s reputation with the more serious tennis crowd.

Then came the post that might have sealed their fate.

Recently, Veronika Kudermetova revealed that Rune had slid into her DMs – only to get shut down when she told him she was married. It was already embarrassing enough for the 22-year-old.

Tennis Centel piled on with a parody post about Rune "looking for love with a mature woman." Not exactly subtle.

Rune Fights Back

Instead of just ignoring it, Rune decided he’d had enough. He told his fans to start reporting accounts like Tennis Centel.

"Too much fake info here on X. Please do report accounts faking like this."

Within days, Tennis Centel went silent.

The account hasn’t explained why they stopped posting, but the timing is pretty telling. When a player with Rune’s following asks fans to mass-report an account, that’s serious trouble.

Rothenberg was thrilled to see Centel disappear. When a fan said they’d miss the humor and attention it brought to tennis, the journalist didn’t hold back.

"It was objectively not ‘hilarious’ and it definitely didn’t bring any meaningful or useful ‘attention’ to tennis. All it did was make up plausible fake news and quotes to spread misinformation and potentially harm players’ reputations. Good riddrance."

Kyrgios hasn’t weighed in yet, but he’s probably not happy. The 2022 Wimbledon runner-up has clashed with Rothenberg multiple times before.

Will They Be Back?

Don’t count Tennis Centel out just yet. NBA Centel disappeared for a while before coming back stronger than ever. These parody accounts have a way of bouncing back with even bigger followings.

It’s pretty interesting that Rune managed to take down such a popular account so quickly. Most players probably knew about Tennis Centel – almost everyone in tennis is on social media these days.

You have to wonder which players were secretly enjoying the posts and which ones were hoping someone would finally shut it down.

The whole situation highlights how social media can mess with players’ heads. Eugenie Bouchard, who just announced her retirement at the 2025 Canadian Open, has been open about her mental health struggles and how online negativity affected her.

Maybe that’s something worth thinking about the next time a "harmless" parody account decides to target a real person’s reputation for laughs.