Holger Rune shuts down concerns over Boris Becker’s criminal record
Holger Rune claims he is unconcerned by Boris Becker’s criminal sentence after signing the six-time grand slam winner as his coach.
Becker was convicted of four Insolvency Act offences in a London court last year after being accused of concealing assets when he declared bankruptcy in 2017.
The German was sentenced to two and a half years in jail, but was released in December after spending only eight months behind bars. He was then barred from returning to the UK for a period of up to ten years.
Rune has no concerns about the 56-year-old’s coaching or mentoring ability and Becker will be in his player’s box in Australia for the first grand slam of 2024 in January.
“I know many players that really like him. So do I. Whatever he’s doing off the court, I don’t need to have an opinion on that because I hired him to coach me, not to do anything else,” said Rune.
“He’s a great guy. He’s a really good man. I think if people mistake him from that, it’s totally wrong, because he has a great heart and he’s a great coach.”
Rune credited Becker with halting an alarming dip in his form midway through the 2023 season. He managed to arrest that slide sufficiently to reach the ATP Tour Finals for the first time.
“He helped me a lot during [the end of the season] because I had the tough middle of the season with everything so it was needed that he came and we start improving again, and he’s a great guy, a great coach,” Rune added.
“We did some good work, proper training, and I’m excited for the future.
“It’s more mental and tactical than technical, I would say. Of course, he has a few tips especially on the serve. He he had a great serve himself but it’s a lot of psychological.”
Rune admitted that he had to look up Becker’s best tennis on Youtube to get an idea of what he was like as a player and he was left impressed.
“I watched before we started some highlights of him and Sampras in Berlin,” Rune said.
“Incredible tennis and […] they still play like real tennis like you do nowadays. They are hitting the shots like we do almost, just more to the net, more serve and volley, but I think it’s exciting, it’s still an effective way to play.”
Rune is inspired by the prospect of facing off with peers Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz as well as veteran Novak Djokovic, with whom the Dane has a budding rivalry.
“I think it’s great to see that Novak can still play at this level. It’s unbelievable what he’s doing,” said Rune.
“Alcaraz won a slam this year, Sinner finished in the top four. I was No 4 four for the first time this year so I think the next generation is very interesting.
“We’re trying to compete with Novak to see if we can match him but he is still winning three out of four grand slams so it’s kind of tough. So before we can say that, we need to start winning more regularly against him.”
