Holger Rune attributed his recent improvements to the support he has been receiving from Boris Becker following their recent partnership.
Rune experienced a dip in form following his run to the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in July, winning just one of eight following matches and suffering three consecutive first-round defeats in Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open.
However, the 20-year-old believes the recent addition of Becker to his coaching team is already paying off, evident by his run to the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters last week.
‘’It is never easy to reverse a negative spiral like the one I went through in the past months,’’ Rune said.
“Boris helped me a lot in this. I’ve come back from almost nowhere, from a period where I was losing all the time in the first round to a big match like this against Novak [Djokovic], close to my best level.
“We can already see the results of our work. He immediately made several adaptations, minor changes in my game and I played better.
‘’I don't want to say what it is, but it will be easy to see. I haven't reached my best level yet, but I'm improving fast.’’
Reflecting on his loss to Djokovic in the last eight in Paris, Rune believes he would have been dispatched much sooner without the guidance of his new coach.
The Dane revealed he now has his eyes set on the ATP Finals in Turin, which gets underway on 12 November, after being the last player to qualify for the prestigious end of year event.
‘’If I had played against him a few weeks ago, I would have lost in two sets,” he said.
“And this is how I played a great game in which I showed that I am close to the maximum. That best shows how far I've come.
“I should have done some things differently, but I lacked courage in certain moments.
‘’The match was similar to last year [when Rune beat Djokovic in the Bercy final], although I think I was more passive in some periods.
‘’On the other hand, maybe he forced me to be more passive.’’
‘’Now I have to analyse all that so that I can come back stronger and try to beat him in Turin.’’
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