Andrey Rublev earned a fourth consecutive loss on the ATP Tour, which is the first time since 2018 that happened.
The Russian is not enjoying tennis right now because he's seemingly incapable of actually winning a tennis match. As crazy as that sounds, the world number 8 hasn't won a tennis match in four matches now, which is the worst streak since his tennis breakout.
It's the first time he had gone winless in four consecutive matches since 2018, when he was a young player ranked outside of the Top 10. Back then, Rublev lost to David Ferrer in Acapulco, Taylor Fritz in Indian Wells, Vasek Pospisil in Miami, and Dennis Novak in the Davis Cup.
Fast forward to now, Rublev's bad streak started at the Indian Wells Open when he lost to Jiri Lehecka in two sets. He would then be beaten in the second round of the Miami Open by Tomas Machac and lost in the second round of the Monte-Carlo Masters to Alexei Popyrin.
That Monte-Carlo Masters loss might have been the most surprising one because the Russian was actually the defending champion at the event. Now, he played against Brandon Nakashima at the Barcelona Open and also lost that match.
It wasn't a good match for Rublev, who struggled with serving all day. He did hit seven aces but also had five double faults, hitting his first serve only 48% of the time.
That created a lot of problems for him because he had to work hard for every point against the very solid Nakashima. The American, on the other hand, served really well for much of the match, winning the majority of the points on his serve.
He frustrated Rublev a lot because the Russian had few chances. He only had one break point and failed to convert it, while Nakashima had 9. The American also converted only one, but he outlasted Rublev to win 6-4, 7-6(6). This was a very shocking streak for Rublev and at a very bad time in the season.
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