Confirmed: Patrick Mouratoglou to coach Holger Rune until Halep returns in 2023
The Frenchman will accompany the 19-year-old Dane and his coach Lars Christensen until the start of the 2023 season
Holger Rune, Lars Christensen and Patrick Mouratoglou, october 2022 | © Mouratoglou Academy
Holger Rune is two places away from achieving his goal for the 2022 season: entering the top 25 on the ATP Tour.
But the 19-year-old Dane is an ambitious man who has always met or exceeded the goals he set for himself on the junior circuit and then on the pro circuit. As he aims higher and continues his ascent, he will benefit from the direct assistance of Patrick Mouratoglou, the man who has been watching over his career since he was 13 years old.
The French coach will join Rune’s staff this week and will accompany the teenager on the ATP Tour for events in Stockholm, Basel, the Rolex Paris Masters and the Next Gen Masters in Milan, to close out the 2022 season. The information, released by Tennis Majors, has been made public later on Wednesday.
“While Simona Halep is taking time to recover and is away from the game, she encouraged me to seek a new collaboration,” Mouratoglou said in a statement on Instagram.
“Today I’m pleased to announce that I will officially be joining the team of Holger Rune. Together we’ll compete in four tournaments and prepare in the winter season for 2023.”
“I’m really excited to work with Holger. He has a great team with his mother and Lars (Christensen), who he has been with since he started playing. These kind of relationships are rare and precious. I am honoured to be part of it and my goal is to assist them in order to help Holger reach his goals.”
Rune excited to work with Mouratoglou
Rune said he could not wait to get started.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to work with one of the best tennis coaches of the year,” Rune said. “At the level that we’re at right now and even if it’s only for a few months, we did not hesitate to take this chance to work with Patrick, in order to make the next step.”
Arrangement to run until Halep returns to WTA Tour in 2023
This association is not at the expense of Simona Halep. The Romanian, coached by Mouratoglou since the clay-court season, announced an early end to her year after the US Open to undergo nose surgery, deal with her divorce and recharge her batteries before the 2023 season.
Now back in the top 10, thanks in part to a win at the WTA 1000 in Canada and the confidence gained from reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon, Halep, 31, has set her sights on winning Grand Slam titles again.
Lars Christensen, Rune’s Danish coach, will remain on the technical team until Mouratoglou returns to work with Halep. Christensen has been coaching Rune since he was a child, under the supervision of the player’s mother, Aneke Rune, who quickly saw the opportunity to have the French coach accompany her son on a daily basis.
The collaboration between the French coach, founder of the academy where Rune trains regularly, and the recent Sofia finalist will continue until the winter preparation for the 2023 season.
Mouratoglou-Rune collaboration goes back a long way
Mouratoglou spotted Rune at the age of 13 and allowed him to benefit from the support of his foundation, Champ’seed, which helps high-potential players develop their talent and ambitions in tennis if their family’s own means are not enough to support that dream.
This opportunity will also mark Mouratoglou’s return to the men’s circuit with an official coaching title for the first time since the spring of 2012, when he coached Grigor Dimitrov before responding to a request from Serena Williams, with whom he won 10 Grand Slam titles between 2012 and 2017 for a ten-year association.
Mouratoglou’s various appearances in the box of certain players, such as Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2019 Masters or at Grand Slam tournaments, saw the French coach acting more as a mentor and extended team member. None of that with Rune: Mouratoglou will be the coach.
Rune broke into the top 100 in January this season and continued his progress in 2022 by winning his first ATP title in Munich, reaching the quarter-finals at Roland Garros and breaking into the top 30 in the process.
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Rune is decisive and determined to not let every point go without fighting for it. Djokovic needs a new- gen coach to overcome his vulnerability — giving away points to opponent in overhead and defending himself so weakly over the net. I think Novak is so set to his old hitting form. He could easily suffer a defeat from Tsitsipas, and could had easily win over Rune, if not for his being so lax and under estimating his opponent.