Casual tennis fans mix up Casper Ruud and Holger Rune. Their last names are similar. Ruud is from Norway and Rune is from Denmark – even their flags are similar.

Ruud is well-liked and is generally known for his good behavior. Rune, on the other hand, has had his share of challenges with the umpires and fellow players.

Recently, a funny incident occurred during the quarterfinal match at Basel when the umpire addressed Rune as Casper, which clearly is not his first name. 

Umpire: “Most of the time you’re good, Casper.”

Holger Rune: “I’m not Casper”

You can see the video of the conversation here.

Rune and Ruud have an interesting history and have had run-ins in the locker room. Rune accused Ruud of celebrating too much in the locker room and yelling in his face. Ruud disagreed with Rune’s version of events and the pair.

Holger Rune has hired Boris Becker as his permanent coach. Lars Christensen has left the Rune team and will work with Clara Tauson. It was Christensen’s decision to leave Rune as he didn’t want to be part of a big coaching team where his influence would be diluted. After a successful trial run at the end of 2023, Rune and Becker will continue to work together in in 2024.

Rune split with Patrick Mouratoglou in September after poor results. Becker was recently released from jail for tax evasion and is not allowed to enter the UK until 2024.

After months of poor performance, Rune reached the semifinals at Basel. He reached the quarterfinals at the Paris Masters where he lost a competitive match to eventual winner and world number one, Novak Djokovic. Rune appears to have turned a corner and the initial impressions are that the partnership is working well for Rune.

Becker was part of Novak Djokovic’s coaching team and has experience coaching top players. It remains to be seen if Becker can help Holger Rune win a grand slam.