Andrey Rublev recently competed at the 2024 Moselle Open in Metz, but he played only one match at the tournament before withdrawing.
With the ATP Finals now underway, the conversation in recent weeks has centered around different qualifying scenarios, but also about when the race should end.
The last big tournament of the season is the Paris Masters, which is the last ATP Masters 1000 event. After the event in the French capital, there are usually always two more ATP 250 tournaments held in the week prior to the ATP Finals, giving players a chance to earn some additional points if they are in a race for the last qualifying spots.
That's what happened this year. With Novak Djokovic not competing and his participation at the ATP Finals uncertain, Casper Ruud, Alex de Minaur, and Andrey Rublev all signed up for the last-week ATP 250 events as they were three players fighting for the last spots at the ATP Finals.
Luckily for all three of them, Djokovic solved this riddle by withdrawing from the 2024 ATP Finals, meaning that all three qualified without needing additional efforts at the ATP 250 tournaments.
As such, Alex de Minaur withdrew from the Belgrade Open, but Rublev didn't do the same in Metz, at least initially. As the top seed at the event, he had a first-round BYE, meaning he got to start in the second round of the tournament.
In the second round, he took on Lorenzo Sonego. The Italian player bested lucky loser Gregoire Barrere in the first round (6-4, 7-5), but the Russian player was too strong for him, as Rublev won the match 7-6(3), 7-5.
Almost immediately after his win, Rublev withdrew from the Moselle Open, sending Corentin Moutet, who won his second-round match, straight into the semi-finals of the tournament with a quarter-final walk-over.
The Russian player cited an injury as a result of his withdrawal, but it was clear that it was likely made so he could move to Turin and prepare for the ATP Finals.
His second-round opponent Sonego was less than happy about that, and he slammed Rublev when talking to Italian publication Ubitennis, saying that the Russian player didn't act fairly, as he knew he would withdraw.
"Rublev didn’t act very fairly. There are people who go to tournaments to play and to try to do well, people who want to advance. There were some lucky losers waiting to get in, and he took the spot from a lucky loser."
According to Sonego, Rublev took away his chance to advance at the tournament, even though the Russian player beat him fair and square.
"He took away my chance to move forward in the tournament when he already knew he wasn’t going to play. It wasn’t very fair or respectful toward me."
Sonego also noted that Rublev arrived at the arena already with his suitcases, knowing that he would be leaving the city after his match.
"Also, his coach had told him he’d be leaving before the match. They already knew they were leaving; he even showed up on court with his suitcases (smiles). It wasn’t a nice thing for us players who maybe put our heart into moving forward in a tournament, while he doesn’t care at all about it."
While it's a slightly controversial situation, there will probably be differing opinions on the matter. On the one hand, Rublev beat Sonego fairly, and the fact that he later chose to withdraw didn't impact the Italian player in any way, as he was already out of the tournament.
On the other hand, with the Russian player having now intentions of competing in the further rounds, it could be questioned whether it was fair for him to have a spot at the event.