“We say on tour if someone beats you three times in a row, they’re your daddy, so I was fighting to not let that happen.” Ben Shelton‘s viral quote from the AO third-round clash against Lorenzo Musetti made headlines back in January. Of course, it was for hilarious reasons, as the 21-year-old successfully denied having a ‘dad’ connection with his Italian opponent thanks to his victory over Musetti. It brought their H2H score line to 1-2. But looks like Shelton’s effect has taken over other ATP pros as well. Take for example Holger Rune, who’s hoping to prevent a possible dad connection with his next-round rival in Indian Wells.

The original story goes back to two months back when Shelton entered the third round down under. Going against Musetti, the American was hoping to advance further. But he was also thinking to prevent Musetti from defeating him in a third straight ATP battle. Prior to the AO meeting, he was leading 2-0 against Shelton. The latter, however, didn’t let the unthinkable happen. He succeeded in overcoming Musetti’s challenge with a score line of 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5). But this story is now carrying forward – at the Indian Wells, albeit with different characters.

In a post shared by Tennis Channel’s Instagram, Denmark’s Holger Rune unveiled a hilarious reason why he’s desperate to win his upcoming QF match, on Thursday, against Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor. Of course he’s willing to make a deep run, right? Well, there’s another major reason too. Actually Griekspoor currently leads the H2H tally 2-0 against Rune. In case he wins this third encounter as well, it might not bode well for the Danish pro. Rune revealed, “So what people say is that one should beat someone three times in a row, you become his dad. It’s kind of silly to say. Hopefully, I’ll try not to make Griekspoor my dad on Thursday”

No matter the result, it seems fans are enjoying these fun moments from the Indian Wells. One can say Shelton’s hilarious remark from the AO is only getting more popular now with Rune using the ‘terminologies’.

Fans can’t help but think of Ben Shelton as Holger Rune prays to deny his ‘Dad’ connection with Tallon Griekspoor

One tennis lover clearly had a déjà vu moment after hearing what Rune said for Griekspoor. Remembering Shelton’s reaction from the Australian Open third round, they wrote, “Shelton’s comment has become popular 😂” Meanwhile, another user didn’t hold back in agreeing with this sentiment. “@benshelton ‘s impact 😂”, they wrote.

Speaking more of the 21-year-old Shelton, his own Indian Wells campaign is going quite smooth. After getting eliminated from the SF of the ‘Happy Slam’ against Jannik Sinner, he couldn’t do much in his next two events last month. But after winning his R16 encounter, on Wednesday, against compatriot Brandon Nakashima, he’s become the youngest American to enter the QF stage of Indian Wells in 21 years. In his third overall Masters 1000 QF, Shelton will now face Jack Draper on Friday.

Coming back to the ‘Dad’ story in the event, one fan simply hoped for Rune to survive the battle against Griekspoor. They wrote, “Please no dad for you tomorrow Holger 😂😂❤️🙏” But guess what? Few others simply applied the funny rule of thumb to some other tennis rivalries as well. For example, one tennis fan wrote, “Novak is Monfil’s ancestor.” Why so? It’s simply because in their 20 h2h encounters so far, the Frenchman has never managed to win a single match against the 24-time Major king. The latter leads 20-0.

Similarly, another user brought to the light the WTA rivalry between icons Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. In their words, “serena is the god-mother of sharapova then😂” For the uninitiated, the two faced each other in 22 professional matches in their careers. Out of them, five-time Major winner Sharapova could win only two; the 23-time Slam champion leads the h2h tally with a dominating margin of 20-2 against the former World No.1.

What are your thoughts on these hilarious comparisons? Do you also have a similar rivalry in mind from the ATP or WTA side? Let us know in the comments below.