Andrey Rublev is not going through the best moment of his tennis career. The Russian, despite winning the Hong Kong title at the beginning of the season, has not shown the consistency that has always characterized him on the professional circuit. And he arrives at the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 where he defends the title with the aim of redeeming this bad dynamic shown since the beginning of the year.
Few expected last year that Andrey Rublev won Monte Carlo champion. Despite having reached the 2021 final where he lost to Tsitsipas, no one expected that the Russian would be able to take the title last year taking into account the list of players who were in Monaco: Medvedev, Zverev, Rune or the aforementioned Tsitsipas. Clay is not a surface on which he does not stand out, but it is not his favorite either, since being the slower court his aggressive and fast blows lost power. And despite all this, Rublev won the Monegasque trophy.
And the truth is that the Russian did not have an easy path. First, he had to sweat and overcome a clay court fighter like Jaume Munar (4-6, 6-2,6-2)then he got rid of his compatriot Kachanov in eighths (7-6(4) y 6-2)surrendered to German Struffwhich would have a great role in Madrid, (6-1, 7-6(5)). Rublev was already in the penultimate round of the tournament, just one game away from repeating the 2021 final, and had to work hard to come back and get rid of the American Taylor Fritz 5-7, 6-1 and 6-3. The Russian was in the final and had one last obstacle left to lift his first Masters 1000 title: Holger Rune. The final was a real great match where Rublev found himself 4-1 down in the third set and everything seemed to indicate that, once again, he would fall at the most important moment. But the Russian surprised everyone, Rune the first, to come back and win the final by 5-7, 6-2 y 7-5.
After the victory in Monaco and the final in Banga Luka, worse results in Madrid, Rome and Paris
After that title, Rublev took off some pressure and a week later he reached the final of Banga Luka but he fell to Lajovic. However, in the rest of the clay court tour he would not achieve great results: eighth in Madrideighth in Roma and third round in Roland Garros. The Monte Carlo title and the final in Bosnia saved a clay court tour that went from more to less.
2024 irregular
During the rest of 2023, Rublev maintained his consistency on grass and hard courts and even won another clay court tournament, the ATP 250 in Bastad. However, the 2024 season is not going as the Russian expected. Although the beginning promised a lot with the Hong Kong title and the quarterfinals in Australia where he showed a great game. But everything went wrong in the Dubai semifinals, in that third set against Bublik where he lost his temper. shouting and insulting to a line judge which led to his disqualification from the tournament.
It seems that Rublev is still dragging that slab because since the controversial incident he has not been able to lift his head. He has only managed to defeat Murray in the second round of Indian Wells, to later fall to Use Lehecka. And in Miami it would be another Czech who would beat him in his debut in the Florida tournament: Tomas Machac.
With this balance and with these feelings comes the current Monte Carlo champion who has a great opportunity in the Monegasque tournament to turn around the complicated start to the season. Although it won’t be easy for them to revalidate the title because, unlike last year, this year they will be Novak Djokovic y Carlos AlcarazIn addition to the threat of Jannik Sinner. In fact, the defending champion and current world number 6 would face the Serbian in the quarterfinals, the Spanish in the semis and the Italian in a hypothetical final. Not only will it be necessary to take into account the result but also the sensations that seem key for Rublev to regain his great regularity in the circuit.
2024-04-05 21:42:22
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