Holger Rune: "Boris Becker is bringing in a lot of mentality and a few technical things"

Holger Rune recently gave the tennis universe an insight into his relationship with new coach Boris Becker while speaking on Jimmy Connors' podcast.

Rune, 20, has established himself as one of the most promising players on the ATP Tour. The Dane won his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Paris-Bercy last year and reached two more Masters finals at Monte Carlo and Rome in 2023.

The 20-year-old, however, suffered from a debilitating back injury for a large part of the season, causing him to lose ten of his eleven competitive matches between Wimbledon and his Stockholm Open defense in October.

During this time, Holger Rune had employed famous coach Patrick Mouratoglou as his coach. The Dane, however, split with the Frenchman a few weeks ago, turning to eight-time Major winner Boris Becker instead. He has benefitted from the new partnership, ending his 2023 season with respectable showings at the ATP Finals, Paris Masters and Swiss Indoors Basel.

Against that background, it wasn't surprising that Rune had high praise for Boris Becker on the Advantage Connors podcast. The 20-year-old asserted that the eight-time Major winner helped in shaping his mentality and technical acumen, saying:

"I think he is very exciting. I think he is bringing a lot of mentality and a few technical things. But more mentality like how you can handle the big moments better and how to save your energy in the matches, to do things mentally better."

Holger Rune then disclosed that the German was collaborating with the Dane's fitness coach and analyst to iron out the kinks in his game.

"He is a very good man, he already made a plan with my fitness coach and my analyst and what we needed to improve, and he’s extremely involved already. We had this test period during the tournaments," he said.

"Boris Becker knows what it's like to be there, Holger Rune is looking at Mouratoglou like, 'How do you know?'" - Jimmy Connors' son

Jimmy Connors and Boris Becker after their 1987 Roland Garros encounter

Jimmy Connors and his son Brett had also discussed Holger Rune's partnership with Boris Becker in late October on their podcast. They delved into why Patrick Mouratoglou wasn't a good fit to be the Dane's coach.

Brett had asserted back then that Mouratoglou's lack of experience as a top tennis player could be detrimental for a promising player like Rune. Here are some of the excerpts from the Advantage Connors podcast:

"He [Becker] knows what it's like to be there, when Patrick told Rune, 'Blah blah blah blah blah', and then it didn't work, Rune is looking at him like, 'How do you know, you've never been in these situations. You definitely were not a Grand Slam contender?'

"Boris broke on the scene at, you know, 16, 17 years old. So he will be able to give him some insight on, 'Hey, I know what it's like to be a young guy, and have all that success and pressure come on you at such a young age.'"

Meanwhile, Holger Rune's mother Aneke revealed earlier this month that the Dane and his team were happy with what Becker has had to offer till now.

“We look forward to continuing the good work in the preseason and 2024 with our team, with whom we will also end the year,” Aneke told Denmark’s TV2 Sport.