Finding success often takes pushing through difficult moments, even for the best players in the world. Andrey Rublev is a star who consistently shares his struggles with his fans.
The 27-year-old wears his heart on his sleeve and is known for showing his emotions on the court. That is something the defending Mutua Madrid Open champion has been working on, though.
“Generally it's tough to change reactions, the way you always react all your life. So that's why when you are doing something and it gives you results, of course, it's tough to change because you don't know what's going to happen,” Rublev recently told ATPTour.com. “You get used to this kind of routine. But it's the same, even without tennis.
“Try to change your reaction when something triggers you badly, that upsets you or makes you angry. Try to change [your] reaction [to the] opposite, to show that you're really happy, and it's almost impossible. It takes a lot of effort.”
Rublev has spent all but three weeks in the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings since October 2020, making himself a dependable presence at the top of the sport. So why attempt to change?
“Struggles,” Rublev said.
The 17-time ATP Tour titlist enters the Madrid ATP Masters 1000 event with an 11-9 record this season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. He is No. 17 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings because of the 1,000 points he is defending.
Rublev is not making any drastic changes, but focusing on certain habits and his approach.
“Not much, just a little bit in a better way, in a different way. [You need to] understand this reaction that you are doing, or the things that you are doing, if it's helping you or not,” Rublev said. “Or [if] you're enjoying this, or it gives you more stress, or you don't even know why you're doing this, or something like that. [It is] jjust to understand this. And then if you don't know why you're doing this, or it gives you not good results or something, you try to change it.”
A competitor in five consecutive Nitto ATP Finals, Rublev saw his efforts pay off in Doha, where he defeated Alex de Minaur, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jack Draper en route to the ATP 500 title.
“Really great week, great tournament and great memories. I don't know what else to say. It was a really good moment,” Rublev said. “It was just in general a nice feeling that doing a different approach and doing different things and a different approach of emotions, approach of habits and everything… it still gives you a good result.
“It was a nice moment to understand that you can not only [be] obsessed, focussed with results.”
Rublev was not just happy that he lifted the trophy that week in February, but with how he felt in doing so. The former World No. 5 is still “trying many things”, but it was a positive sign.
“It really was nice to see that, not only obsession with results gives you results, that [there] also can be a healthier way to get results,” Rublev said. “But it's tougher because you have triggers that always try to provoke you to [reverse] back.”
With his new mindset, Rublev will try to successfully defend his Madrid title at the Caja Magica. The seventh seed begins his tournament on Friday against fellow fans’ favourite Gael Monfils.
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