Holger Rune is experiencing a roller-coaster season on the ATP Tour, with the Washington Open now his current focus.
Rune is the third seed at the ATP 500 tournament in Washington DC, and takes on Alexandre Muller in his opening match.
It arrives after his shock first round exit at Wimbledon, where the current world number nine was beaten by Nicolas Jarry.
Rune was suffering with a knee injury at the time, but is now looking to bounce back as the US Open approaches.
And the Dane has called upon a tennis great in order to get in shape for the Grand Slam, having been working with Andre Agassi before his first match at the Washington Open.
Jack Sock confused by Holger Rune and Andre Agassi trial
Agassi and Rune had a three-day trial, but the exciting partnership left former player Jack Sock somewhat confused.
He said on the Nothing Major Show: “I don’t understand that, when players do that [take coaches on for a short trial]. What is a three-day trial going to do? Players would always do that, like let’s do a trial.
“Maybe they have been together for the last couple of weeks, whenever Holger went out of Wimbledon and maybe he has been over here working with him.
“But it’s just like flying to DC three days before the tournament and step on the court for the first time and see how the week goes, I don’t know.”
John Isner speculates what role Andre Agassi is playing with Holger Rune
It remains to be seen what Rune and Agassi plan to do after their trial, but the ATP top 10 player certainly enjoyed his experience with the tennis legend.
Sharing footage of their training on X, he wrote of their time together: “3 great days on court absorbing experience.”
There aren’t many better people out there to learn from than Agassi, who won eight Grand Slam titles during his stunning career.
And that is certainly the viewpoint of another former player, John Isner, who added: “Something tells me when Agassi tells you something you are really going to absorb all of that information. So I think this is more of a mentoring role.
“I don’t think Agassi is going to be on the road, I don’t even know if he is still in DC but he’s certainly not going to be in Toronto, is my guess. Maybe it’s just a mentoring role from afar for the most part.”
| Year | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| 1992 | Wimbledon | Grass | Goran Ivanisevic | 6–7(8–10), 6–4, 6–4, 1–6, 6–4 |
| 1994 | US Open | Hard | Michael Stich | 6–1, 7–6(7–5), 7–5 |
| 1995 | Australian Open | Hard | Pete Sampras | 4–6, 6–1, 7–6(8–6), 6–4 |
| 1999 | French Open | Clay | Andrei Medvedev | 1–6, 2–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4 |
| 1999 | US Open | Hard | Todd Martin | 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–7(2–7), 6–3, 6–2 |
| 2000 | Australian Open | Hard | Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 3–6, 6–3, 6–2, 6–4 |
| 2001 | Australian Open | Hard | Arnaud Clement | 6–4, 6–2, 6–2 |
| 2003 | Australian Open | Hard | Rainer Schuttler | 6–2, 6–2, 6–1 |
It may have been a brief link-up for the time being, but Rune should be filled with confidence and indeed excitement after working with Agassi.
And he isn’t the only player to have recently turned to vast experience to help his game, with Alexander Zverev having trained with Toni Nadal after his Wimbledon exit.
The German, who like Rune suffered a shock first round loss at the All England Club, wisely turned to the expertise of Rafael Nadal’s uncle and former coach.
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