Mouratoglou and world No 4 Rune separate ways after (almost) twelve months together
Patrick Mouratoglou will not be the Dane’s head coach moving forward, as stated by her mother Aneke and confirmed to by the French coach himself.
Following a stellar string of results under the tutelage of Patrick Mouratoglou late last year and earlier this season, Holger Rune has hit a speed bump in recent months.
Between October 2022 and May 2023, Holger Rune rose through the rankings to crack the world’s top five for the first time and claim his inaugural Master 1000 title, with an impressive win over Novak Djokovic in Paris.
The one-year part-time association between Mouratoglou and Rune has now come to an end, however.
With quarter-final exit at Wimbledon, losses in the first round of the Masters 1000 tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati, and most recently suffering a first round exit at the hands of Roberto Carbelles Baena at the US Open, it’s been a challenging two months for the 20-year-old. Including his Hopman Cup losses, Rune has suffered six consecutive defeats.
Following this downturn in form, Aneke Rune told Danish media outlet BT Sport the following regarding her son’s coaching team moving forward:
“It just didn’t work out. Right now it is important that Holger finds the right team, that he can have for a long time. He has decided that isn’t with Patrick.”
Mouratoglou has confirmed with Tennis Majors that the separation is mutual, and was always part of the pair’s plan for 2023.
Understanding the relationship between Mouratoglou and Rune
Patrick Mouratoglou and Holger Rune have known each other since the Dane was 13 years old, with Rune joining the Mouratoglou Academy in France in 2016 as a “Champ’seeder”, through the Frenchman’s foundation for special talent in tennis.
Six years later, when Rune enjoyed his breakthrough year on the ATP Tour in 2022, winning his first title in Munich, Mouratoglou joined the Dane’s coaching team. This was always intended to be a brief, six month burst from October 2022 to April 2023, where Mouratoglou would co-head coach Rune alongside the 20-year-old’s long-time coach, Lars Christensen.
During this period, Rune’s stellar form continued, with the Dane enjoying a fantastic indoor hard-court season which included lifting a maiden Masters 1000 title in Paris.
In April of this year, after the winter and the Sunshine Tour, Mouratoglou and Rune parted ways as intended. However, soon after, Rune requested that Mouratoglou rejoin his team for the clay season as head coach. The Frenchman agreed, with the pair going on to make finals in Rome and Monte-Carlo, and the Roland-Garros quarter-final. From the clay season, Mouratoglou and Christensen have taken turns as head coach for Rune, with Christensen returning for the grass court season, and the Frenchman overseeing the most recent US hard court swing.
Now, Mouratoglou has confirmed that he will step back as planned. The Dane will, however, remain under the wider umbrella of the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy.
Mouratoglou shares on Rune’s struggles in 2023
Following Holger Rune’s loss in the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros, during which Patrick Mouratoglou was the Dane’s head coach, the world-renowned coach has shared some thoughts on why the 20-year-old’s has struggled in 2023:
“If I look back at him in October [2022] and him now, I think he’s a different player,” Mouratoglou emphasised. “He grew a lot. He developed a lot. He won a lot. He’s now five or six in the world, which is not the final destination, but he made a big step.”
Rune is both close and far from his ambition to be the World No 1 and win Grand Slams. In his last words to the media in New York, he made it clear that finding a stable team would be his next step:
“Only one thing I can do is learn from this defeat, try to get stability in my team, stability around me, and, you know, do all the right things so I can perform when I’m on the court.”
The Dane has 1745 points to defend from his 4710 total between now and the end of the season, before Rune hopes to play his first ATP Finals in Turin.
