Paul Annacone called Holger Rune's recent alliance with six-time former Grand Slam champion Boris Becker a "match made in heaven", but remained skeptical on whether it will work.
Annacone, a former ATP pro himself with a career-high ranking of No. 12 during his playing, and a very successful tennis coach, has worked with retired major champions like Pete Sampras and Roger Federer and knows the blueprint of what makes a partnership successful.
Annacone's principles about coaching are not solely reliant on hiring a big-name coach, but it is whether there is chemistry between player and coach. A few weeks ago, Holger Rune confirmed the appointment of Boris Becker to replace Patrick Mouratoglou in a bid to end his slump on the ATP Tour.
Rune had won once in his last 11 matches across all competitions and was left with no choice but to part ways with Serena Williams' former coach in the aftermath of his US Open first-round shocker.
Worrying details emerged thereafter when his mother, Aneke, talked about a clash of egos between Mouratoglou and Rune's longtime coach Lars Christensen.
Annacone has since chimed in on the coaching situation involving the 20-year-old and Becker. The 60-year-old American has called for time to see whether it will work, adding that Rune's mother puts his new partnership in a tricky spot and can't quite make the call on whether they will be successful at this early stage.
"Look what the coaching situation is to me, it's not always who it is, it's the way they combine, so you really don't know. This is, this should be a match made in heaven because of the way both of these guys go about their business."
"But look, it's a tricky situation right? Holger has a very strong parental figure in the picture. His mom has been there to help, she has been around helping him done a great job. Patrick Mouratoglou is now not in the picture, so there's not a real simplistic kind of equation that you are gonna know if it's gonna work or not until they do it for a bit."
"See how the personalities match, see if there's buy-in, see if there's philosophy agreement and see if everybody can stand their lane and do what they are supposed to do."
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