Not much went right for Andrey Rublev on Friday in Paris when he was stunned by Matteo Arnaldi in straight sets at the 2024 Roland Garros.
Rublev had high hopes of this year's Roland Garros after playing some really solid tennis to win the Madrid Open. He's always been quite decent on clay but has slowly improved to a really solid level in recent years.
Nobody really expected the Russian to struggle much against Arnaldi, who is a very tricky player but nowhere close to the Russian's level. He started well against the Italian but then couldn't keep up as the match went on, losing the opening set in a tie-break.
Things only got worse after that, as he dropped the second set 2-6 and then the final set as well, 4-6. Rublev took it terribly, and it only got worse as the match went on.
We saw him screaming, we saw him throwing his racquet on the ground, and we saw him arguing with the umpire about a call. We also saw him hitting his knee, similar to how he bloodied it at the ATP Finals a few months ago.
It seemed like a typical meltdown for Rublev when things go wrong, and they went badly in this match. He never quite recovered after dropping that first set and only sank further as the match went on. Not being able to calm down was a huge part of that.
Per tradition, the French crowd booed Rublev heavily every time he had his meltdown, but he didn't care much; he simply let out his frustration when he felt like it.
The loss at the 2024 Roland Garros certainly marks another bump on Rublev's road, but also gives him a space to reflect on his on-court behaviour and how he could improve in the future.
0 Comments