Holger Rune raised plenty of eyebrows when he made a second coaching appointment in late December but has inexplicably reversed his decision and will now work with one coach.
Rune appointed Severin Luthi on December 20th, 2023, to work with him for the 2024 season. Luthi is a well-known coaching dab hand in tennis, having worked with Swiss legend Roger Federer for almost 15 years and also captains Switzerland's Davis Cup team.
At the time of his appointment, Luthi was expected to work with Boris Becker - in the same coaching setup - whom Rune initially hired on a short-term contract last autumn before extending their partnership for the rest of 2024.
The Dane joined the bandwagon of select ATP players who work with two coaches like Jannik Sinner (Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi), Carlos Alcaraz (Juan Carlos Ferrero and Samuel Lopez), and most recently, Yibign Wu, who appointed Wayne Ferreira to work in tandem with Marcos Baghdatis.
Rune's partnership with Luthi became more notable, with details from his mother confirming that the Swiss and Becker would interchange their roles throughout the year.
It is rumored that because of Becker's past criminal record in which he served a prison sentence for nearly a year in the United Kingdom, he is not permitted to travel to some countries.
So, adding Luthi seemed like a sensible decision for Rune, not just as a cover-up for Becker but also to enable him to take the next big leap in his development.
But on January 30th, less than two months since they began working together, Rune split with Luthi, with TV2 Sport in Denmark reporting that the Swiss coach was "unavailable to accommodate Rune's full schedule," as detailed by Rune's mother, Aneke.
It has also emerged that Kenneth Carlsen, who worked with Rune in a temporary role in the first week of 2024, will work together with Boris Becker, who has stepped away from punditry duties after the conclusion of the Australian Open.
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