After making it to the 2024 Madrid Open final, Andrey Rublev said he “already had many warnings” in his past that should have taught him to be “calmer.”
Prior to his disqualification in Dubai, the world No. 8 acknowledged he was “already close to doing something not very good” and said he was “learning” to modify his strategy.
Rublev advanced to his seventh ATP Masters 1000 final on Friday by defeating world No. 13 Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3 in the Madrid Open semifinals.
Before coming to Madrid, Rublev had a rough stretch of play following his default due to yelling at a line judge during his March Dubai semifinal match against Alexander Bublik.
Following his disqualification against Andy Murray at Indian Wells, the 26-year-old won his first match; however, he lost his next four matches in straight sets.
Rublev, though, has had a remarkable turnaround in Madrid, winning five games and dropping just one set to go to the championship.
Felix Auger-Aliassime will take on Rublev in the title match after the latter narrowly defeated two-time defending champion and world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz in the last eight. To go along with his 2023 Monte Carlo success, he hopes to win his second Masters 1000 title.
Speaking at a news conference in the Spanish city following his victory over Fritz in the semifinals, Rublev talked about the remarkable reversal of his fortunes.
That’s the nature of this sport. We frequently hold large tournaments here. You have to wait months for it in other sports. In this manner, you won’t have to wait as long if you place poorly in a competition,” the Russian added.
Tennis is a mentally demanding sport, yet we have fresh opportunities every week. There will inevitably be ups and downs because the seasons are long. The benefit of falling a lot is that you can get back up again with ease.
The 15-time ATP champion also talked about whether Bublik had changed as a result of the incident in Dubai.
“I’ve already received a lot of warnings throughout my life telling me to be more composed. I was on the verge of doing something bad not just in Dubai but in other locations as well, so I’m glad everything worked out well,” Rublev said.
“Despite the circumstances I have faced, I like to think that I am learning from myself as well as the warnings.”
Rublev also discussed the extension of the Madrid and Rome tournaments in the wake of recent player concerns regarding the 12-day format.
I have preferences for certain things over others. I’m glad I have the day off so I can get some physical recovery in for Sunday,” he said.
It is more difficult mentally since you have to exert maximum effort for two weeks rather than just one. You experience a slight increase in mental fatigue at the conclusion of the two weeks compared to the one-week events. Both good and awful things exist.
Leave a Reply