Novak Djokovic has been brutally snubbed by his former coach Marco Panichi, who believes Holger Rune is the “strongest athlete” he has ever trained. Panichi teamed up with Rune following this summer’s Wimbledon after working with Djokovic between 2017 and April 2024.

Fitness coach Panichi has worked with a host of top tennis stars and helped Djokovic win a string of titles during their time together. He was drafted into Jannik Sinner’s set-up in September 2024, but lasted less than 10 months before he was let go by the Italian. And he will now attempt to help Rune kick on.

Rune saw his tennis season come to a premature end in October after he sustained an Achilles tendon rupture during his semi-final showdown with Ugo Humbert at the Stockholm Open.

He was initially expected to miss up to a year of action to recover from the injury. But Panichi has revealed: “We absolutely do not want to rush because we know it is better to be cautious a little bit more to then forget about what happened. I believe for us, too, the timeline is more or less that – six months.

“I believe it is more appropriate to wait for the hard courts and not play immediately on grass, but we will see during the process what happens. We leave the door open enough, we will evaluate together with the doctors and the whole staff what to do.”

And he added: “I believe he is a player a bit more complete, a middle ground between Djokovic, Sinner, and [Carlos] Alcaraz. We are in that range.

“I knew him as a great athlete, and now training him I have proof. He is the strongest athlete I have ever trained in terms of explosive force expressions. Monstrous.

“But he doesn’t put this athlete on the court at the right moments yet. He needs to balance this mind-body system. It’s a challenge, but I am confident.”

Djokovic enjoyed a decent season on the court as he reached the semi-finals of all four Grand Slams. But he was unable to topple either Sinner or Alcaraz at any of the Majors as the world’s top two players each won two Grand Slam titles.

Djokovic did manage to get his hands on the Hellenic Championship trophy in Greece at the start of November before deciding to bring his season to an end ahead of the ATP Finals.

And the Serbian also clinched the Geneva Open title in May following victory over Hubert Hurkacz in the showpiece match.