Holger Rune parts ways with coach Severin Luthi after brief collaboration

The Dane started working with Luthi just under two months ago, but has ended their collaboration early following a disappointing showing at the Australian Open

Holger Rune competes at 2024 Australian Open Virginie Bouyer / Panoramic

Jamie Malachy

January 31, 2024

Holger Rune has ended his collaboration with coach Severin Luthi less than two months after adding the Swiss former Davis Cup captain to his team.

Aneke Rune – the young Dane’s mother and manager – revealed the split to Danish newspaper ‘Ekstra Bladet’, citing scheduling issues as the primary reason behind the decision.

“I just want to inform you that from now on Holger will only have Boris and Kenneth in his coaching staff. Don’t want to make a big deal out of it, but the timing with Severin was clearly not right,” Aneke said.

“It would be too few weeks for Severin to be able to cover for the continuity that Holger needs,” she continued.

The reshuffle of Rune’s coaching team means that Boris Becker and Danish ex-pro Kenneth Carlsen will become the Dane’s only two coaches.

“With… Boris and Kenneth, Holger gets the flow he wants for his development and stability,” Aneke added.

“For Holger, it is absolutely right to expand the planned collaboration with Kenneth, with whom he also trained for several periods during his junior years.”

mixed start to 2024 season results in coaching reshuffle for rune

Luthi was famously Roger Federer‘s former coach, as well as serving as Switzerland’s Davis Cup captain when they won the tournament in 2014.

Rune appointed Luthi in December of last year, a move that attracted attention as it appeared to indicate the Dane was assembling a team of coaches with former connections to the Big Three, having also added Boris Becker to his coaching staff earlier in the year.

It was not to be a long-lasting relationship with Luthi, however, as Rune’s season got off to a mixed start. After making the final at the Brisbane International, the world No 7 then fell disappointingly in the second round of the Australian Open to Frenchman Arthur Cazaux – one of the biggest upsets of the men’s singles draw.

Following that early exit, Rune has opted to compete in the Open Sud de France in Montpellier this week, where he is the top seed, with his first match coming against Spain’s Pablo Llamas Ruiz.