Andrey Rublev is one of the most consistent players on the ATP Tour, but the Russian misses a small step to win a big title.
Despite winning many ATP 500 trophies, Andrey Rublev is yet to win an ATP 1000 event or a Grand Slam and during a recent interview at the 2022 Astana Open, he explained what is holding him back from doing better and winning big titles.
In Kazakhstan, world no. 9 played four matches and after beating Laslo Djere, Zhizhen Zhang and Adrian Mannarino, he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas, who later fell to Novak Djokovic in the final.
“I have a good game to be on the next level – and I’m the one who stopped myself from this. [In New York] I was better on court as a person, better as a player, more professional. I was able to handle tight moments. It takes time.”
“Everyone has their own weaknesses,” Rublev said. “My weakness is mental and little by little there are some improvements. [Before] I would already explode and because of that lose the match. But even in the moment it looks impossible to [maintain composure], I was able to do it."
The Russian continued speaking about how important the mental site is and what difference it can make on the tennis court. He's one of the players that talks to himself a lot and it's not also rare to see Rublev show frustration.
"It was giving me a turning moment and I was able to win the match. I was feeling a bit proud of myself after the match, I’ll be honest. I showed on court I was better as a person. But I don’t want to focus on that. It’s like `OK, go back to reality, and you still have this problem there – go fix it.’”