Holger Rune showed his appreciation to new coach Boris Becker for turning his season around in the midst of a dreadful set of results.
Recently, Rune confirmed Becker's appointment as his coach after weeks of speculation. Their partnership was documented to last until the end of the season. Becker replaced French coach Patrick Mouratoglou who parted ways with Rune after the US Open.
It was the German's first high-profile coaching job since he was released from a British prison late last year. The six-time former Grand Slam champion was absent during their first tournament together in Stockholm where Rune lost for a 10th time in 11 matches across all competitions.
Having soared to a career-high ranking of World No. 4 after Wimbledon, the Dane endured a major slump that nearly cost him a place at the ATP Finals. When he appointed Becker, the objective was to secure his spot in the final eight of the season-ending championships.
Becker's first public appearance with Rune at a tournament was in Basel where instructed his protege to take off his cap so that he didn't have any interference while playing. Rune made the semifinals there, winning back-to-back matches for the first time since July.
"It’s never easy to reverse a negative spiral like the one I went through, and he helped me do it. 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."
Rune has since attributed most of that credit to the 55-year-old who oversaw his title defense in Paris-Bercy come to a juddering halt in the quarterfinal in a rematch of last year's final against Novak Djokovic. But at the same, it was sufficient to lock his place at the ATP Finals.
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