Holger Rune credits Boris Becker with arresting his slide this season
Holger Rune believes that he owes his place in the ATP Finals to the work done with Boris Becker in recent weeks.
Rune scraped into the ATP Finals thanks to a run to the last eight in Paris.
His title defence ended in defeat to the man he beat for a maiden Masters title last term but Rune was in a positive state of mind.
Rune believes that Becker has helped him pull out of a downward spiral that looked like ti would derail his campaign.
“It’s never easy to reverse a negative spiral like the one I went through, and he helped me do it,” the world No 7 told reporters.
“I’ve come back from almost nowhere, from a period where I was losing all the time in the first round to a big match like this against Novak, close to my best level. Two months ago, I would certainly have lost this match in two sets. It just goes to show how far I’ve come.
“It was a similar battle to last year, except that I was a little too passive this time,” added Rune on the Djokovic clash.
“I could have done a few things differently, I lacked a bit of courage at times. Maybe it was also him who made me more passive. Now I have to analyse all that so that I can come back stronger and try to beat him in Turin.”
Becker, who just joined Holger Rune’s team, praised his pupil for exhibiting “poise and perseverance” after a difficult quarterfinal match against Novak Djokovic at the 2023 Paris Masters.
Becker praised the “spectacular fight” that both quarterfinalists put up in Paris, while also looking ahead to the ATP Finals in Turin.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Becker wrote: “Spectacular fight last night from both players. Congratulations [Novak Djokovic]. [Holger Rune] showed a lot of poise and perseverance. As his coach, I’m excited to work with such a promising young player. Now, the focus is on the ATP Finals. See you in Turin.”
Djokovic, who benefited from the coaching input of Becker for years, backed the decision by Rune to bring him into his team.
“I think it’s a very good decision from Holger to invite Boris to join his team,” Djokovic said.
“Boris is legend of our sport, someone that, you know, understands the game so well from a player’s perspective, coaching perspective.
“He’s been around the game for so many years. He’s seen and played against different players in different generations.
“Incredibly intelligent, smart man, very confident, obviously composed. You know, he was famous for his mental strength and ability to come up with his best game when he was facing the biggest pressure.”
READ MORE: Ranking the ATP Finals lineup by ‘Under Pressure Rating’
