Holger Rune spoke about his decision to split with former coach Patrick Mouratoglou, mentioning a clash in their styles and compatibility issues with each other.
Rune, who has been a poster boy for Netflix’s latest tennis documentary ‘Breaking Point: Season 2’, shed light on the decision to fire his coach Patrick Mouratoglou. The duo started working together officially in October 2022. The decision to hire him was exciting both for him and his fans as Mouratoglou was a renowned coach with a championship pedigree under his belt. He had previously been a coach to Serena Williams and Simona Halep and had helped them to reach their potential and up their game.
The results were also very promising as the French coach guided Rune to his first-ever ATP 1000 title in Paris. He also won the Stockholm Open that same season. It was almost as if the young gun had announced himself on the big stage. However, things took a turn for the worse. Rune struggled in the next few tournaments and the surrounding buzz started fading a bit.
Last year, in April, the Dane announced the split up between him and his then coach Patrick Mouratoglou. A little later, the coach himself confirmed the news through his social media accounts. In a farewell message to Rune, he wrote :
“Holger! We’ve successfully completed our mission and ended up having an incredible 6-month adventure, exceeding our original plan of 3 months. It was a pleasure to share this journey with you.”
Rune expressed his reasons behind splitting up with his former coach in Breaking Point’s new season. He revealed that he was unimpressed with the coaching situation and needed a change.
“It’s been difficult, with the coaching situation. The people I hire, they have to help me. Sometimes I am thinking ‘Why are you here actually?’ I don’t hire people just to sit there. So it’s also like a question of ‘Are you doing your job good enough?’ And ofcourse, it’s my fault at the end but I didn’t feel like Partick’s the right thing for me at the moment.”
However, Rune reconnected with the coach for a brief time to share his mental issues that were derailing his performances.
“It’s been very frustrating for me because I was off, mentally. More closer you get to the tournament, that’s more stress you get. And I think it’s important that you have somebody that can build you up with confidence and control, like your emotions and stuff. And that’s what I need during my tournaments.”
Meet Holger Rune’s new coaches: Severin Luthi, former coach of Roger Federer, and Boris Becker, former mentor to Novak Djokovic.
After the firing of former coach Patrick Mouratoglou, Holger Rune has been busy hiring new coaches for himself. While Boris Becker has been with the Dane for some months now, Roger Federer’s ex-coach Severin Luthi serves as the latest addition to his coaching group.
The Dane welcomed his new coach with a social media post which he captioned:
“Very happy to welcome Severin to my team alongside Boris 🤩”
Holger Rune starts his Australian Open campaign against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka. He’s the eighth seed in the competition and will have to fend off tough competition from Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, and childhood rival Carlos Alcaraz on his way to a maiden Grand Slam title.
