31 For A Big 1! How Rublev Turned His Backhand Into A Rock Against Rune

Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour

Thirty-one straight backhands in the court with the match on the line.

Andrey Rublev defeated Holger Rune 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 in the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters final by putting 31 straight backhands in the court from 1-4 down in the deciding set. Rublev missed his thirty-second backhand in the net going down the line serving at 6-5 40/0. It was an inconsequential error. An ace out wide at 40/15 on the ensuing point sealed a momentous victory.

Rublev’s backhand was the rock that got him over the finish line. Rublev also extracted seven errors using his backhand groundstroke from 1-4 down in the final set, with four being a Rune backhand, which overheated deep in the deciding set.

During the same period, with Rune leading 4-1 in the deciding set, Rune’s backhand broke down under self-imposed pressure. The Dane hit 31 backhands, committing six errors while hitting two winners and only extracting one error from Rublev (a forehand groundstroke).

Rublev’s backhand was always going in. Rune’s was much more of a wild card as the finish line rushed hard at both players.

The deciding set also featured three crucial moments in which Rune’s forehand return, serve, and overhead let him down. Rublev was a single point from trailing a double break when serving at 1-4, 30/40. He went with a surprise first-serve location, and it worked perfectly. For the match, Rublev served 52 per cent of his first serves out wide in the Ad court and 44 per cent down the T. On this hyper-critical point, he went with the secondary pattern down the T, and Rune sliced a forehand return just wide.

The pressure metre suddenly exploded on the slow red clay.

The second crucial moment came with Rune serving at 4-2 in the third set. He double faulted in the net on the first and third point of the game and was broken to 15. The pressure to close the match was clearly affecting the 19-year-old Dane.

Serving at 5-5 in the deciding set, Rune put back-to-back overheads in the net and double faulted again on break point. While Rublev kept his head, and his backhand in the court, Rune was rushing and missing.

Rublev’s returns were also instrumental in his comeback from 1-4 in the deciding set. He only made two return errors while extracting two errors from Rune’s Serve + 1 forehand and backhand groundstroke. Rune, on the other hand, yielded seven return errors (three backhand/four forehand) while forcing just two Serve +1 errors from Rublev.

Rublev seemed to be more under pressure from the baseline throughout the match, but his stats stood tall against Rune from the back of the court when the red clay dust finally settled. Rublev won 51 per cent (60/95) of his baseline points for the match, while Rune was at 46 per cent (57/123).

Rune came to the net slightly more for the match but failed to finish points when it mattered. Rublev won an impressive 78 per cent (14/18) coming forward, while Rune won just 40 percent (8/20) at net.

The drop shot had worked so well for Rune to the final, but it evaporated in the heat of the match against Rublev. Rune won just 47 percent (7/15) of points in which he used his drop shot in the final, providing another underperforming area that contributed to his defeat.

Rublev’s victory was as much mental as it was physical. He said in his post-match interview that "And today I was at least [thinking], 'Okay, if you're going to lose today at least please believe until the end', and that is what I was trying to do in the third set, hoping that maybe I would have one extra chance to come back or something and in the end I was able to do it.”

Never go away. Never give up. The finish line is full of surprises if you just keep your head.