The German coach Boris Becker talked about his player Holger Rune during an episode of the Eurosport Germany podcast Das Gelbe vom Ball. The former German tennis legend also focused on the influence of Holger’s mother, Aneke, in the young Danish tennis player’s team.
“When I arrived in Basel, the tournament director who had given me the first wild card in 1984 hugged me. I immediately felt at home. The tennis community made my reintegration here very easy, starting with Holger, of course, who loved me very much.
In Paris, Cedric Pioline, against whom I will have played 15 times, welcomed me warmly and asked me: Where have you been all this time. We missed you. It was really great for me. The beginning was very intense because Holger’s participation in the ATP Finals in Turin was at stake.
To put it bluntly, he had a very bad summer. With a set and a break in the first round in Basel, everyone thought it would be another difficult match, but he showed that he knows how to fight and that he really wants the victory.
During the preparation we discussed why he lost matches: was it his forehand or his backhand or his attitude? If your attitude is not correct, you don’t need to play tennis. He improved his attitude game after game, but also his style of play.
She lost the semi-final in Basel right away, that wasn’t a good match either,” said Becker.
Becker shows his respect for Holger Rune’s mother role
On the role of her mother Aneke the former Slam champion explained: “I may be the head coach, but I’m as important as our analyst Mike James and the athletic trainer Lapo Becherini.
And, in any case, Aneke is the mother of the company: Without her nothing works. For an outsider who has never played tennis, she has incredible knowledge of the sport. And most importantly, she knows what is good for her son. So I want to underline it once again: it’s a team effort between Aneke, Lapo, MJ and me.”