ATP Tour

Rublev: From ‘guest’ to owning his place on Tour

Welcome to Locker Room Code, where ATP Tour players share the stories behind life on Tour. From unwritten rules and rookie mistakes to friendships and unforgettable moments, this series goes beyond the baseline. This week, Andrey Rublev reflects on his first journey from newcomer to established presence. Read all instalments of Locker Room Code here.

Andrey Rublev once felt like a guest on the ATP Tour. Now, after years of hard work and success, the 28-year-old knows he belongs.

When he first stepped on Tour, Rublev’s attention was fixed on the tennis rather than the world around it. The then-17-year-old made his tour-level debut at the 2015 Delray Beach Open, focused on working hard, improving his tennis and pursuing his ambition of becoming one of the best players in the world. The locker room, and the relationships and routines that came with it, were not yet something he paid much attention to.

“At that time I was not thinking about the locker rooms or anything else,” Rublev told ATPTour.com. “Firstly, because I didn't know anyone: I was not [well] educated in terms of the field. I knew maybe the Top 5 players, but the player who was No. 15, I didn't even know who he was.”

For a young player entering the professional game, the locker room can offer an introduction to a world that exists beyond the match court. There are established players, familiar routines and a sense of where everyone fits within the Tour. Rublev, however, was not particularly concerned with finding his place among them.

The former Junior World No. 1 was focused on making the most of every opportunity, whether that came through a wild card, a place as an alternate or a run through qualifying. At that stage, he viewed his presence at a tournament as something he had to earn again and again.

“When I was that age, I was maybe a bit more cocky, so I was not even paying attention to whether I was welcomed or not,” Rublev said when asked if there were any players who took him under their wing. “The only thing I was thinking at the time was that I need to work a lot… I'm here either because they gave me a wild card, I got in as an alternate or I'm playing qualies. So like a guest, not as a real player.

“I was just thinking that I need to really work hard because I'm just a guest that is passing here this week by fortune. I'm not a player yet. I needed to work to own my place to be there.”

Rublev's early career was about turning promise into permanence. A highly regarded junior, he was still finding his footing on the professional circuit, where a place in the draw — and a place among the players inside the locker room — was never guaranteed.

In the years that followed, Rublev struggled with injuries and difficult periods while he aimed to establish his place. But he also made good progress: Rublev won his first tour-level title in Umag in 2017 and cracked the Top 50 for the first time later that year, gradually moving from a young prospect to an established presence within the Tour.

That shift is reflected in the way he now talks about his place in the game.

“It's different now because I know that I own my place here,” Rublev said. “I'm not 400, 300 or 200 in the world and I don't know if I'm going to get into a tournament or through qualies or as an alternate. Now I know that I own the place because I know that I’m in all the tournaments.

“Now it's more about things that I need to improve to be able to compete for titles, not just to be here as a player who can win one or two matches. I want to be able to still be competitive with the top players. I want to be able to fight with them, to fight for titles, not just to play here.”

Rublev has since gone on to win 18 tour-level titles, rise to No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings and compete at the Nitto ATP Finals five times. The uncertainty of his early days has given way to the security of knowing that he has earned his place in the tournaments he enters.

But belonging has not changed the standard he sets for himself. The locker room may now be familiar territory, yet Rublev's focus remains on what he can achieve once he steps onto the court.

“It's not like the third or fourth round or quarter-finals is enough for me. I'm not going to lie. It's not like that,” Rublev added. “I don't spend much time on site because I prefer to live my life, do the things that I need to do and then to enjoy my life to be there and smile.”

Rublev's relationship with tournament life is perhaps best understood through the way he approaches his time away from the courts. The 28-year-old does not need to be constantly present in the locker room to feel that he has a place in it. The certainty he once lacked now comes from what he has achieved and the standards he sets for himself.

In Bastad, where the courts, hotel, restaurants and sea were all within easy reach during his title-winning week in July this year, he found a setting that suited that balance between tennis and life beyond it.

“I like to spend less time on site. I’m more of a player who comes to practice, showers and then leaves.

“In Bastad, it’s just easy there because everything is in one place: the sea, the courts, the hotel, the restaurants, From practice, I was going straight into taking a shower, lunch, then treatment and then an evening walk, some dinner with a nice view and then back to the room.”

In the early days of his career, Rublev felt he had to work to own his place on Tour. Now, he arrives at tournaments knowing he belongs and with ambitions that go far beyond simply being there.

The locker room is no longer a place he needs to find his way into. It is part of the Tour he has spent years earning his place in, one tournament at a time.