Holger Rune completely lost?

© AFP

Guillaume Nonque

le 31/07/2024 à 09h32

2 min to read

Alcaraz Jeux Olympiques Rune

Nothing has been going right 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 a symbol, since the young Dane was then world no. 6 (he was even world no. 4 the following month) and looked set to establish 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 according to plan for Rune. Between loss of confidence, impatience, too much nervousness, and repeated changes of coach and training structure. 12 months of disappointing results later, he has fallen back to 17th in the world rankings, the expected rivalry with Alcaraz now seems but a distant mirage, and injuries are now further complicating the equation. He was forced to withdraw from the Paris Olympics due to a sore wrist, which he has been nursing since the start of the clay-court season in April.

On Tuesday, he announced that he was once again ending his collaboration with Patrick Mouratglou. With the Frenchman, he had won the Paris Masters 1000 in November 2022, beating Novak Djokovic in the final (3-6, 6-3, 7-5), his main achievement on the ATP Tour to date. The 2023 season looked very promising, but failed to live up to expectations. He therefore opted to finish the year alongside Boris Becker, and then to form a coaching duo with Roger Federer's former coach, Severin Lüthi, for the start of 2024.

But the collaboration with the German, first on his own and then as a duo with the Swiss, only lasted a few months. In early March at Indian Wells, Rune decided to try working with Mouratoglou again. 5 months later, the results are not there, the solutions have not been found, and the two men have decided to stop working together once again. The Dane will now be coached full-time by his compatriot Kenneth Carlsen, 51 and former world No. 41 (1993), who was already one of his coaches. Another attempt to find his bearings.

Holger Rune: "I've had good discussions with Patrick, and we've mutually decided to part ways. He will always remain a great friend, but for the time being, 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'm looking forward to getting healthy and back on track."