'Don't Hire People Just To Sit There': Rune On Initial Split With Mouratoglou

Wednesday, 10 January 2024 at 22:45

byZachary Wimer

Holger Rune has finally shed light on what happened when he initially split with Patrick Mouratoglou in April of last year.

Holger Rune was part of the Patrick Mouratoglou Academy before breaking out as a tennis player, so when he started working with the coach in late 2022, nobody was really surprised.

Mouratoglou was contractually bound to Simona Halep at the time, but her suspension allowed the French coach to explore other options.

The partnership was a really good one as Rune won two events to close out the year, the second of which was the Paris Masters, the biggest trophy he'd ever win. The next year proved an up-and-down rollercoaster, which resulted in a sudden split in April.

They would start working together a few weeks later, but nobody knew what had happened the first time they split. Well, now we know, as Rune talked about it in Netflix's docuseries Break Point.

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"It's been difficult, with the coaching situation. The people I hire, they have to help me. Sometimes I am thinking "Why are you here actually?" I don't hire people just to sit there. So it's also like a question of "Are you doing your job good enough?" And of course, it's my fault at the end, but I didn't feel like Partick's the right thing for me at the moment."

Mouratoglou clearly had a way of reaching Rune and inspiring him in a way he couldn't do himself at the time. The coach would oblige Rune's request and rejoin his team even though they would split for a second and final time later that year.