Martina Navratilova shocked by Andrey Rublev: ‘He beats himself’
With the elimination of Novak Djokovic in the third round of the 2024 US Open, insiders and fans were convinced that Andrey Rublev would finally overcome the quarterfinals hurdle in a Grand Slam tournament.
After a long period of crisis – in which he had struggled to control his nerves even skipping the Paris Olympics – the Russian player seemed to be back in good shape on the American hard court having reached the final in Montreal (lost to Australian Alexei Popyrin) and the quarterfinals in Cincinnati (defeated by Jannik Sinner in three sets).
Rublev knew he had a great chance in New York, especially after the shocking elimination of 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, but was defeated in the round of 16 by Grigor Dimitrov in five sets. Andrey started the match badly losing the first two sets, but he reacted very well by changing the inertia of the challenge and extending the match to the fifth set. In the decisive moment, Rublev played a bad game at the serve and that drop allowed the Bulgarian ace to reach the quarterfinals (where he will face American ace Frances Tiafoe).
Navratilova opens up on Rublev
The Russian champion has once again shown that he does not have the mental solidity to get far in a Grand Slam tournament, a feeling that continues to haunt him and that risks affecting his entire career. During his match against Dimitrov in New York, Rublev let out his nervousness once again and let himself be overwhelmed by frustration instead of trying to react to the difficulties.
Speaking with Sky Sports, tennis legend and top analyst Martina Navratilova opened up on Andrey’s bad attitude on court: “He beats himself and the negative energy just cannot be helpful. He just keeps making the same mistake over and over again. You are worried for him. Come on, just get it together. You are only hurting himself, literally physically and emotionally. He needs to save his energy for good stuff, like hitting tennis balls. Not hitting his head. He’s got the game to win a Major, I believe that. He’s got the big serve, the big forehand and he just needs to improve his net game a little. The sky is the limit. The guy has got it all. He just needs to work on the mentality. He is such a lovely guy.”
Recently, the Russian ace spoke about his frustrations in recent months: “Mentally I was out of order. I don’t know how you can say it. I was struggling with everything. I guess it was already long moment of everything, and I started to burn out because I was struggling for many years with depression, with many things outside of the court.
I guess this year is when I couldn’t handle it anymore, and it starts to just explode. It started to explode more and more on the court because in life I was able to stay calm, but inside the court I was burning everything,” he added. “In the end, yeah, I was struggling. Now last months I feel really good, and straight away tennis is better.”
Andrey needs help
The triumph at the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open in the spring seemed to have restored serenity to the Russian player, but the situation worsened further over the following months and Rublev really looked like the shadow of himself. ATP legend John McEnroe also talked about Andrey’s current status: “Take it from someone who knows about going crazy, if you’re going to go crazy, you’ve got to know when you’ve got to pull back so you can keep your focus and concentration, and play well. If it’s helping you, which it often did with me, you keep doing it until they say ‘One more and you’re out’. If it’s not helping, you’ve got to go to a plan B.
This has been a rough couple of months for Andrey. He got defaulted in the Middle East and that turned out not to be the right call. Then he went through a four-match losing streak; doesn’t beat anybody. Then he wins Madrid of all things having not won, so everyone was like, ‘Woah, maybe he can win this’. I don’t think his confidence was that high.”
The impression is that Rublev will have to do a very long work to achieve the right mental stability. Until then, it will be difficult for him to really aspire to win a Major. Despite a very high level of play, the Russian champion never went beyond the quarterfinals in the four most important tournaments in the world.
