Andrey Rublev is such an odd player. He is capable of greatness and he hits the ball from either his forehand or backhand as hard as any player. He can also hit spots, but what separates the truly great from players such as Rublev is being able to maintain excellence consistently. We expect Carlos Alcaraz to make deep runs in most tournaments, but we also expect Rublev to crash out before the semifinals of Grand Slam events.
Rublev is a good clay-court player which made his loss in his opening match at the Barcelona Open to American Brandon Nakashima even more surprising. Nakashima had only defeated one top-ten player before and Americans do not do well on clay. Rublev seems stuck in his head and does not seem to know a way out of his slump.
That slump currently includes a four-match losing streak which he has not had to go through since 2018. The problem with now compared to 2018 is that Rublev was still working his way up in 2018 and losing to players such as Taylor Fritz and David Ferrer. In Rublev’s current sad streak, he has lost to players such as Tomas Machac and Jiri Lehecka. Rublev is physically capable of being much better than those players.
The Russian obviously struggles with emotional control on the court. In his loss to Nakashima, he waited until the very final point to completely destroy his racket, but his frustration has been boiling for many points and affecting his play. Rublev is seemingly such a nice player away from the court and many want him to do well, but he needs to find a way to be nicer to himself.
In the post-match press conference following his Monte-Carlo victory over Casper Ruud, Tsitsipas was asked about Nadal’s form and the potential of facing him at Roland Garros. Tsitsipas answered honestly, “Regardless of whether he has played little or whether it is his first tournament, we all know what Rafael Nadal is capable of and how quickly he can adapt to one of his favorite surfaces, which is clay.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Rafa reach the final at the Barcelona tournament, because that’s something he’s done over and over again for years and years and years. He has this competitive spirit and this ferocious tennis that sometimes seems to be unstoppable.”
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