Holger Rune has called his training sessions under the watchful eye of Andre Agassi ‘a great experience’ and is ‘looking forward’ to working with Marco Panichi, his new fitness trainer, who recently left Jannik Sinner’s team.
The Dane, most recently, suffered a first-round loss at Wimbledon to Nicholas Jarry, with the Chilean battling back from a two-set deficit.
Soon after, Rune surprised the tennis world after being spotted practising for the Citi DC Open alongside Agassi, sparking coaching rumours.
Ultimately, the former world No 4 withdrew from the event due to his back ‘locking up’ during his final practice session.
“It was a great experience sharing the court with him for a couple of days in Washington,” began Rune, speaking to Ziggo Sport about his time with the eight-time Grand Slam champion.
“I learned a lot about how he sees the game, and how he sees my tennis, and we tried to figure out how to make my tennis easier.
“He gives very good advice on how to return, he was an incredible returner, as I am too, so we can share information and that’s great. His passion for tennis is spectacular. It’s wonderful to meet people who love tennis as much as I do.
“I think it’s very important to share your thoughts, and Agassi knows how to listen and gives very good advice. I am very grateful to have spent these days with him.
“What he tried to explain to me is that he wanted my tennis to be a bit slower and he thinks I can do things much easier with my power and quality in my shots and believes I should do more things than I usually do.
“Essentially, it’s about finding balance, and that’s what we have been working on. He surprised me with some things he explained in training sessions and also about how to play tiebreaks.
“I won’t share the secrets he gave me, but I was amazed by his perspective on tennis and playing”
The American tennis legend has previously dipped his feet into the coaching world, having helped to coach 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic from May 2017 until April 2018.
Although no future relationship was confirmed, Agassi did comment on a video of the Dane’s glowing comments, stating: “The future is bright.”
In addition to being spotted training alongside Agassi, it has also been revealed that Rune has hired Marco Panichi as his new fitness trainer.
The Italian has previously worked with Novak Djokovic from 2017 until 2024, and, more recently, with Jannik Sinner for the last nine months.
“I tried a few days with Marco down in Monaco and for me it was very, very challenging fitness training with him. It was not only about getting stronger, lifting weights, because that’s not what tennis is about,” analysed Rune.
“Obviously you need a certain strength, but there’s a lot about the coordination, the biomechanics, and I think he challenged me in a different way that I haven’t tried before.
“His experience working so many years with Novak and a little time with Sinner, I really see the connection of fitness and tennis.
“I think he has a spectacular talent for that. So I’m very excited to work with him.”
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The Dane previously made clear that he aimed to improve his overall fitness after a four-set loss to Lorenzo Musetti at the French Open, seemingly impacted by a five-set clash against Quentin Halys in the prior round.
“I just have to get better physically.
“The only thing I’m surprised about is that I trained so much physically leading up to Australia (Australian Open) and there was a bit of the same problem when I met Sinner. I also died there.
“I’ll never see what my potential is if I don’t get my physical form up to 100 percent. So I hope I do.
“We’re talking to some people right now, some physical trainers. Something will definitely happen in the next few weeks.”
Rune is due to return to the tour at the Canadian Masters, facing the big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in his opening match.
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