Nothing has been going well for Holger Rune for over a year, and his quarter-final loss to Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon in July 2023 (7-6, 6-4, 6-4). Quite symbolic, since the young Dane was then world No. 6 (he was even world No. 4 the following month) and seemed able to assert himself as a serious rival to the Spaniard whom he has known and challenged since childhood (they were born 6 days apart).
But nothing went as planned for Rune. Between loss of confidence, impatience, too much nervousness, and repeated changes of coach as well as training structure. 12 months of disappointing results later, he has fallen back to 17th place in the world, the expected rivalry with Alcaraz seems to be nothing more than a distant mirage and now it is injuries that are further complicating the equation to be resolved. He thus had to withdraw from the Paris Olympic Games due to wrist discomfort that he has been dragging around since the start of the clay court season in April.
This Tuesday, he announced that he was once again ending his collaboration with Patrick Mouratglou. With the Frenchman, he won the Masters 1000 in Paris in November 2022, beating Novak Djokovic in the final (3-6, 6-3, 7-5), his main achievement on the ATP Tour so far. The 2023 season then looked very promising, but it did not live up to his expectations. He therefore chose to finish the year alongside Boris Becker and then create a coaching duo with Roger Federer’s former coach, Severin Lüthi, to start 2024.
But the collaboration with the German, alone and then in a duo with the Swiss, only lasted a few months. At the beginning of March in Indian Wells, Rune decided to try working with Mouratoglou again. 5 months later, the results were not there, the solutions had not been found, and the two men therefore decided again to stop working together. The Dane will now be coached full-time by his compatriot Kenneth Carlsen, 51 years old and former 41st world player (1993), who was already one of his coaches. New attempt to find his bearings.
Holger Rune: “I had good discussions with Patrick, and we mutually decided to part ways. He will always remain a great friend, but for now, the best solution for me is to continue with Kenneth who will be present at all training sessions and tournaments. Nothing changes in my relationship with the Mouratoglou Academy which has always helped me a lot. I am looking forward to being healthy and on the right track again.”
