Tennis: Rune and Becker, it’s already over

Becker returned to the tennis circuit last October to coach Rune, who competed at the ATP Finals in Turin, where his season-ending championship debut ended in the group stage. “We started this partnership with the initial goal of reaching the ATP Finals (at) the end of last year, but as we moved forward I realized that for this to be successful I would need to be available for Holger much more than I can be,” Becker wrote in a social media post Tuesday.

“Due to professional and private responsibilities, I cannot give Holger what he needs now. I wish him the best and will always be his number one fan. I really enjoyed this journey together. Becker, 56, was released from a British prison in December 2022 after serving eight months of a two-and-a-half year sentence for hiding financial assets after being declared bankrupt. The three-time Wimbledon champion, who previously coached Novak Djokovic from 2013 to 2016, is currently banned from entering the UK. Employed as a consultant by Eurosport Germany, Becker, aged 56, is also partially prevented from traveling due to his court conviction in London for bankruptcy.

Constraints which prevented him from following the seventh player in the world to the Australian Open where he was eliminated in the second round, while assuring journalists that he spoke with Rune every day. This change in the management of the winner of the Masters 1000 in 2022 comes a week after another: Federer's former coach Severin Lüthi, who also accompanied Rune, had also left his position.

Becker also trained Novak Djokovic between 2013 and 2016, allowing the Serbian to return to the top of the world rankings while achieving numerous successes.