Boris Becker has made a move to help his new pupil Holger Rune in an odd way on court, according to the world #6’s mother Aneke.
The Dane’s mother has suggested that Becker has convinced her son to enter the matchcourt without a cap or necklace at this week’s Basel Open as the German adopted the bare neck and bare head approach during his career.
Rune has very notably changed his well-known on-court look that saw him wearing the cap backwards as he entered his first event in the presence of the newly acquired coach.
6-time Slam champion Becker announced last week that he has started a coaching stint with Holger Rune. The German has formerly worked with Novak Djokovic between 2014 and 2016, guiding the Serbian to add six majors and rack up 14 ATP Masters 1000 crown at the time.
His new charge Rune has advanced to the semis of the Swiss Indoors in Basel where he will face Felix Auger-Aliassime on Saturday in a rematch of the 2022 final. Prior to the tourney and before seeking the assistance of the 55-year-old, the young Dane in a very rough period lost 10 of his previous 11 games on the tour.
With now the 3-time Wimbledon Champion in her 20-year-old son’s box, Rune’s mother Aneke Rune in an interview with Danish media B.T., explained how Becker influenced his son to get rid of the cap to help him improve concentration with the small change.
“Holger has tinkered with it every now and then, but Boris himself felt that way when he was playing, that the less things that interfered, the better. So no caps, necklaces and so on. Maybe Holger could nod in recognition to that,” said Aneke Rune.
Rune in an interview with Tennis TV in Basel, addressed the removal of headwear but did not identified the role of Becker in the fashion update.
“Yeah it’s a good question. It’s very hot here in the arena, and the second day I had to adjust the cap several times along the way because I was sweating a lot,” said the 20-year-old.
“So I thought: ‘Why not play without it and see what happens?’ I’m not superstitious, but it went very well. It’s good to let your hair air out if you want to have hair when you turn 50.”
Speaking on Tennis Channel, former #12 and Roger Federer coach Paul Annacone shed some light on the initiation of high-profile coaching stint of Becker.
“Look, what the coaching situation is to me, it’s not always who it is, it’s the way they combine, so you really don’t know. This is, this should be a match made in heaven because of the way both of these guys go about their business,” discussed the Annacone.
“But look, it’s a tricky situation right? Holger has a very strong parental figure in the picture. His mom has been there to help, she has been around helping him done a great job.
“Patrick Mouratoglou is now not in the picture, so there’s not a real simplistic kind of equation that you are gonna know if it’s gonna work or not until they do it for a bit.”
Rune has put himself the eighth and final berth of the the Race to Turin to qualify for the year-end ATP Finals next month and so far looks safe as its occupant.