Andrey Rublev has been struggling with his temper for a very long time, and he opened up about it at the 2022 Roland Garros.
The Russian player recently almost hit a court sweeper during his first-round match at the 2022 French Open when he hit a ball recklessly, and in each of the following matches, he allowed his temper to derail his matches.
Rublev apologized and admitted he needed to work on it in order to improve, but it's been a struggle for him. Despite beating Cristian Garin in four sets, he allowed himself to get angry in the match, losing focus and losing a set.
After the match, Rublev spoke about his outbursts, saying that if he wants to win consistently, he has to avoid them.
"Just shut up if you want to win. Because if you keep getting frustrated, I don't know, like with (Federico) Delbonis in the end of the second set (in the second round), Kwon (Soon-woo) after the first set (in the first round)."
"Or like even today against Cristian after the second set, I have no chance to beat these guys. So it's your choice. You want to win? Shut up. If you want to lose, keep going."
The Russian player also assessed his level. He was aware of the fact that he wasn't as consistent as he could have been, but at the same time, he was still able to win the match.
“There were still up and downs. Some moments I played well, some moments I drop the level and Cristian, some moments were also a bit more down, but in some moments he was playing really, really high level. And that's it, it was more about these details. Who was more focused, who was more consistent.”
He also returned to his outbursts, explaining that usually, when he remains calm, he plays also better, which is why he wants to remain calm more often.
"Again, I think (it’s about) emotions. When I'm more calm, I start playing much better, start to play much more free and straightaway the ball goes double faster, I play smarter. So it's more about this."
"The problem is, yeah, there are some moments that when I'm doing this really well for some amount of time, then it can be that I drop this mood and then I start to play a bit different. So I need to have more consistency in this."