Boris Becker has opened up on his coaching partnership with Holger Rune after joining the 20-year-old’s team last month. The pair enjoyed instant success, with the world No 8 going on deep runs in Basel and Paris before qualifying for the ATP Finals. And Becker has now admitted that he gave Rune a brutal requirement to start coaching him, claiming he needed permission to tell his player that he was “c**p”.
Becker was added to Rune’s camp following a tough period which saw the 20-year-old go 1-6 in matches between Wimbledon and the Swiss Indoors. It marked the German’s first coaching role since being released from prison last December and immediately proved triumphant with the Dane reaching the Basel semi-final with Becker in his box.
The 56-year-old’s main task was to help Rune qualify for the ATP Finals and he did just that, with the world No 8 making his debut at the season-ending championships this month. They have since confirmed that they will be extending their partnership into 2024.
But it seems that Rune had to agree to some brutal conditions when he reached out to Becker, as the six-time Grand Slam champion revealed that he needed to be harsh on his player. “I have to have permission to tell him, ‘You really played crap today,’” Becker said to Eurosport.
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“And I’ll tell you why. Without that, I can’t work at all. He has to live with and tolerate that because it is the only way to make progress.” Rune has been able to take the criticism on board, however, as Becker noticed an improvement in the youngster’s attitude on the court.
The 56-year-old continued: “We discussed during the preparations why he lost matches. Was it because of his forehand or backhand, or was it because of his attitude? If your attitude is not right, then you don’t need to play tennis at all. It got better from match to match – his attitude if nothing else, but also his style of play.”
Rune previously worked with Patrick Mouratoglou, who guided him to his biggest achievement yet – the 2022 Paris Masters title. Aged just 19 at the time, Rune defeated five top-10 players en route to the trophy, coming from a set down to upset Novak Djokovic in the final.
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They announced a split in spring but Mouratoglou continued to sit in his box until September, when they officially cut ties for good. Rune went back to his old coach Lars Christensen before adding Becker to the team following a successful trial week.
“It’s great. It’s really good,” Rune recently said of his partnership with the former world No 1. “I mean, of course he’s right there. He’s been there many, many times himself, which helps. He can give out from his experience, give that to me on how to handle the things on the court, off the court.”
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