Fiery Rublev finds a calmer path to the top
Carine06 from UK / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)
Born in 1997, Andrey Rublev enjoyed a successful junior career, winning the junior French Open in 2014. He continued to make rapid progress in his early days on the senior tour, and by the end of 2017, he was ranked 39. Further success seemed almost inevitable for the big-hitting young Russian, but his progress stalled. Had his career peaked at 19?
Two issues held Rublev back. A stress fracture in his lower back sustained in 2018 kept him out for three months. He felt the frustration of this very profoundly, admitting that he suffered from depression as his ranking fell. The other, perhaps more serious, issue was his mentality.
Andrey has always been an aggressive player, hitting the ball hard on almost every shot. If this did not work, the only plan B sometimes appeared to be to get very angry. Daniil Medvedev has observed that Rublev would go 'crazy on-court' as a youngster, causing him to lose matches.
Coach Fernando Vicente describes him as someone who aims 'very high', but is also 'excitable' and 'impulsive'.
By Carine06 from UK - Andrey Rublev, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41708617
After a lot of hard work on his mindset, by late 2019, Rublev appeared a lot calmer and began to win more matches, even without playing his best tennis. He admits that some players would previously make him 'mentally crazy because (he) didn't know what to do', but now he began to beat them.
Rublev is currently ranked just outside the top 10 but looks like a genuine contender for the biggest prizes. As a star of the 'Next Gen', his target will be to break into the top three and regularly reach the latter stages of Grand Slam events.
By Carine06 from UK - Andrey Rublev, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73463108
Rublev is part of an exciting young triumvirate of Russian players, along with Medvedev and Karen Khachanov.
They are already in the top 20 and are threatening to dominate the game for the next few years.
Rublev could have just carried on as before, getting angry when things didn't go his way and never fulfilling his potential.
Instead, he has shown the attitude of a champion by working hard on his mindset. For the new, calmer, more accepting Andrey, the sky is the limit.
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