Boris Becker is returning to coaching for the first time since the six-time Grand Slam winner’s release from a British prison last year and will work with sixth-ranked Holger Rune.
Becker told broadcaster Eurosport on a podcast published Thursday that he will work with the 20-year-old Danish player for the rest of the season, starting at the Swiss Indoors next week.
“It makes me a little proud that he asked me. The contact has existed for a long time. Now it was a very good fit,” Becker said. “My calendar allows it, and I have always been interested in Holger because he is on the tennis court with so much commitment and temperament.”
Becker signaled he would focus on the mental side of the game and described Rune as “a rough diamond that needs polishing.”
The 55-year-old German previously coached Novak Djokovic from 2014 through 2016. Before his release in December, Becker served eight months in prison for illicitly transferring large amounts of money and hiding assets after he was declared bankrupt.
With a career-high of No. 4 in August, Rune is the highest-ranked Danish male player ever and has reached the quarterfinals of the French Open and Wimbledon.
Since his loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon quarterfinals in July, he has won just one match, including a first-round loss at the US Open and a loss to Miomir Kecmanovic in Stockholm on Wednesday.
Becker said he wasn’t sure if his partnership with Rune would continue into next season.
“There’s no point in signing a two-year contract now when you’ve only been cooperating for a week,” Becker said. “If you are successful, you usually stay together, no matter what the contract says. If not, everyone goes their own way again.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.