By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesdsay, October 12, 2022
Patrick Mouratoglou made a coaching splash earlier this season when he joined forces with two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep. The hope was for the recently departed coach of Serena Williams to guide the Romanian back to former glory, but now that Halep is out for the season after undergoing a nasal surgery, Mouratoglou has joined forces with Holger Rune.
Rune has been affiliated with Mouratoglou for years, and first came to the Academy for a competition as a 13-year-old. From there, Rune was selected to train at the Academy and has been doing so part time ever since.
“It’s very inspiring because obviously Medvedev is there, Tsitsipas,” Rune told Tennis Now earlier this season at Indian Wells. “And also the area, a lot of players are living in Monaco, there’s amazing facilities first of all, they have great fitness facilities, coaches. Just to be in that environment I enjoy so much more than just being home in Denmark, because it’s much more professional, and the guys that are there that I’m practicing with have the same vision and that just makes it even better to practice together.”
Tennis Now learned via email that Mouratoglou will join Rune’s staff (which includes longtime coach Lars Christensen) 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.
“I’m really confident with Simona’s healing process and I hope to see her back on court soon” Mouratoglou said of Halep.
“I’m really excited to work with Holger. He has a great team with his mother and Lars, who he has been with since he started playing. This kind of relationships are rare and precious. I am honored to be part of it and my goal is to assist them in order to help Holger to reach his goals,” Mouratoglou said.
19-year-old Rune has had a breakout season and is up at 27 in the ATP rankings (from 103 at the start of the season). He reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Roland-Garros this spring and won his first title at Munich on the outdoor clay.
He is 24-23 overall on the ATP Tour this season.
“It is an amazing opportunity to work closely together with one the best tennis coaches in the world,” Rune said this week from France. “At the level that we are right now and even if it is only for a few months, we did not hesitate to take this chance to work with Patrick, in order to make the next step.”