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Holger Rune suffered a surprise 6-7(4), 4-6, 6-4, 3-6 defeat to World No. 122 Arthur Cazaux in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday (January 18). Following his loss, the Dane's coach Boris Becker received flak from the tennis universe.
Holger Rune was coached by Patrick Mouratoglou from late 2022 to early 2023. The 20-year-old, however, ended his partnership with the Frenchman last September following a string of poor results on the ATP Tour.
Rune employed six-time Major winner Boris Becker a few weeks later. While the World No. 8's form has seemingly improved since then, his early exit from the Melbourne Slam is a big setback.
The fact that Holger Rune hasn't made a dent at the big tournaments in the last few months was brought up by the tennis community on social media. One fan on X (formerly Twitter) poked fun at Becker, stating that he should've focused more on improving Rune's game instead of taking shots at Carlos Alcaraz.
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Their remark was in reference to the 56-year-old claiming last year that the young Spaniard's motivation to win matches was compromised by his fitness issues.
"If only Boris Becker was more focused on coaching Rune in place of talking sh*t about Carlos during the off season," the fan wrote.
Another fan on Reddit, meanwhile, pointed out that the Dane's last good showing came under Patrick Mouratoglou. This was when he finished runner-up at the 2023 Italian Open.
"Rune had great results when Pat was his coach and been downhill since they separated," they wrote.
Here are a few more reactions from social media:
"I don't hire people just to sit there" - Holger Rune on why he split with Patrick Mouratoglou
Holger Rune was heard saying in Netflix's Break Point Season 2 that his former coach Patrick Mouratoglou wasn't "the right thing" for him. The 20-year-old also insinuated that the Frenchman's advice wasn't resourceful enough, adding that he had no place for 'people who just sit there' in his team.
"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," Holger Rune said. "So it's also like a question of 'Are you doing your job good enough?' And of course, it's my fault at the end but I didn't feel like Partick's the right thing for me at the moment."
Mouratoglou's ability as a coach was also previously scrutinized by Jimmy Connors and his son Brett. While Connors Jr. claimed that the French coach's lack of experience as a pro hurt Rune's prospects, the eight-time Major winner added that the Dane could trust Becker's credentials more.
"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," Brett Connors said on the Advantage Connors podcast. "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?'"
"He's going to trust him [Becker], and that everything he does is going to do good for him," Jimmy Connors said as an addendum to his son's remark. "And that's beyond a friend, he's a coach, a mentor, to have somebody like that in your corner is pretty amazing."
