‘People put RIP to my name’: Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev on stunning comeback to elite tennis (VIDEO)
Russian tennis ace Andrey Rublev has opened up about his sensational return to professional sport revealing that many fans almost ‘buried’ his career when he was forced to sit out the entire season due to a back injury.
One of the most talented Russian players, Rublev showed brilliant potential at junior level, winning gold at the junior European championship and taking two medals at the 2014 Youth Olympics.
However, his rise to the top was put on hold due to a serious injury that led to him sitting out a significant part of the 2018-2019 season.
Speaking about this immensely difficult period of his sporting career, the 21-year-old outlined that he was not much supported by fans during the injury-forced hiatus which made him drop in the rankings.
“I learnt not to take too close to [my heart],” Rublev told RT. “People had already expected much from me, and when I showed nothing they put RIP in my name. Then they started to say the opposite: ‘no, we still believe in you,’ [some] were saying that my time has already gone. It’s normal. When you lose, everybody says his career is almost over, he will never come back. When you start to win everybody starts saying ‘we have been believing in you since the beginning.’ So it’s a normal part of any sport.”
The player who has managed to beat several top players this year, including Roger Federer, stressed that he hasn’t set any particular goals for the season, except for demonstrating a stable game at every tournament.
Also on rt.com Andrey Rublev & Swiss tennis icon: Who clobbered Roger Federer in Cincinnati?“There were no goals and like I said many times before, I don’t really have goals,” the player said. “My main goal is to do my best every day especially outside the court, [during] practices. Every day to try to improve the things that I need to improve. Because if I do it well and I improve I will do better at tournaments. If I do better at tournaments I will win more matches. If I win more matches my ranking would be higher. Everything comes together,” he added.
Rublev also praised his compatriot Daniil Medvedev for his phenomenal run to world number three, admitting that the US Open finalist is in a better shape right now.
Also on rt.com ‘Unstoppable’ Medvedev seems destined for even greater heights – and that means taking down Djokovic, Nadal & Federer“Everybody knows his [Medvedev’s] style. He is a really good player who doesn’t really miss the ball, who can play in a good rhythm and [move] with a good speed. He can play without missing, without giving you many opportunities to attack. He defends and serves very well. So basically he does many things very good,” Rublev told RT.“Now he is much better than me, he has beaten me this year a couple of times. I have to work hard to do my best [to beat him]” he added.
