Boris Becker was immediately back in his element. When he confirmed his return to the tennis tour as coach of the young Danish star Holger Rune, the 55-year-old showed great motivation and ambition.
“Holger is a diamond in the rough that needs polishing,” said the tennis icon, drawing a comparison to the most successful Grand Slam player in history: “I like his emotional outbursts. I have already coached a player, Novak Djokovic, who… “Sometimes I wasn’t completely in the place.”
Already successful with Djokovic
As coach of the 24-time Grand Slam tournament winner Djokovic, Becker celebrated some successes between 2013 and 2016. The Serb also hired three-time Wimbledon champion Becker to prepare himself mentally for the fight against tennis greats Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal: “Especially from a psychological point of view, he helps me because he already knows these situations. “
The 20-year-old Rune, who has not yet made it past the quarter-finals of the four major tournaments, should now benefit from this. “Boris was also very young, even younger than Holger, when he achieved great success,” Aneke Rune, the mother and manager of the world number six, said recently when speculation about the collaboration arose. The tennis professional himself fueled the rumors with a group photo of himself, Becker and his team on Instagram. “Great training week in Monaco,” wrote Rune.
In Basel for the first time
The training week now becomes a permanent commitment. Becker revealed in the Eurosport podcast “Das Gelbe vom Ball” that he will be taking part for the first time at the ATP tournament in Basel, which begins this Saturday. He will also travel with Rune to the prestigious Paris Masters and “hopefully help him qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin. That is the big goal and that is the task.” According to a Sky report, Becker will act as a so-called super coach at selected tournaments, but Lars Christensen will remain a coach.
“It makes me a little proud that he asked me. We’ve been in contact for a long time. Now it’s a great fit,” said Becker: “My calendar allows it and I’ve always been interested in Holger because he has so much to do Commitment and temperament on the tennis court.” Sometimes with too much, which means that the highly talented Dane sometimes gets in his own way. That’s exactly where Becker wants to start – he has factored in friction. “The coach and the team form an oasis in which the player has to let it out – if he then apologizes and works with concentration again. I did the same thing back then as a professional.”
The six-time Grand Slam tournament winner was recently back in action as a television pundit after being released from prison for tax offenses in Great Britain last December. When he was able to report on the Australian Open again for Eurosport last January, he said: “I missed the closeness enormously; after all, tennis is my greatest passion.” Now he’s even closer.
