If you are unsure about who to give your unofficial “ATP Player of the Month Award” in January, Andrey Rublev is a heck of a candidate. The Russian gunslinger is the man of the hour on the men’s tour, having captured both the Doha and Adelaide titles. He enters the Australian Open third round with a sterling 10-0 singles record. But the road to excellence hasn’t always been smooth. Actually, it was quite tortuous.
Sudden rise and Davis Cup exploits
After an illustrious junior career, highlighted by the 2014 Roland Garros title, it didn’t take long for Andrey Rublev to show glimpses of greatness. In the first half of 2015, he made the most of a few wild cards he received, beating seasoned pros such as Pablo Carreño (twice) and Fernando Verdasco.
In July, Rublev played a leading role in one of the darkest moments in Spanish Davis Cup history. The weekend after Wimbledon, Russia ambushed hosted Spain in Vladivostok, a city that lies on the Sea of Japan, merely over 400 miles away from Kim Jong-un’s palace in Pyongyang. Leaving the location suitability debate aside, Rublev administered No. 32 Pablo Andújar a tie-clinching straight-sets beatdown.
Funnily enough, despite becoming a bona fide villain in Spain, he decided to relocate to Barcelona. Rublev started working at 4Slam Tennis Academy in the spring of 2016, under the watchful eyes of former Top30 Fernando Vicente.
The co-owner of 4Slam, Galo Blanco, in an interview with Punto de Break, focused on the big picture and admitted that Rublev wasn’t ready for prime time yet.
Trust the process – Tennis version
“It is clear Rublev has tremendous upside,” Blanco said. “He needs to improve physically and mature mentally. Once he accomplishes that, he will be a force to be reckoned with on tour. He can get some wins right now purely based on his shotmaking ability.”
Unsurprisingly, Blanco nailed it. A few brilliant runs here and there notwithstanding, it took time for Rublev to find consistent success. His second serve, which is still a liability, used to resemble a baseball eephus pitch. Besides, opponents preyed on his tactical shortcomings, as he used to go for broke on each and every shot. Overall, according to Tennis Abstract, the Moscow native registered a 39-43 tour-level record from 2016 to 2018.
Despite the well-documented struggles, Rublev kept Fernando Vicente in his corner. Nowadays, in a world ruled by immediacy and shortsightedness, coaches are usually the scapegoat after a disappointing season. Thus, it wouldn’t have been stunning at all had Rublev decided to cut ties with the Spaniard.
Instead, perhaps influenced by his parents, a former boxer and a tennis coach, he is starting to reap the benefits for his patience. Since the start of 2019, Rublev has amassed 48 wins and just 19 losses. While he will never be considered a pusher, the 22-year-old is far more tolerant to long rallies now. He knows when to pull the trigger. Personally, I was very impressed with how he broke down Nick Kyrgios’ backhand at last year’s US Open.
Big matchup coming up against Goffin
On Saturday, Rublev will be facing a litmus test in Melbourne against No. 11 David Goffin, who recently defeated Rafael Nadal at the ATP Cup. Although the Belgian is ranked higher, Tennis Abstract’s algorithm pegs the Russian as a 71.5% favorite, as his hard court ELO Rating is currently sixth among all players and over 150 points higher than Goffin’s. Nevertheless, as Chris Oddo pointed out on Twitter, Rublev prefers to push the pressure aside.
We’ll see how this match unfolds. No matter what happens, Rublev is just scratching the surface of his potential and he deserves credit for sticking with coach Vicente throughout his particular bumpy ride.
People in sports always say “the best ability is availability.” But, for Andrey Rublev, stability is right up there.
Main Photo from Getty.
