Andrey Rublev has certainly raised his level compared to recent months and his new collaboration with Marat Safin is helping him to find good feelings in view of the US Open scheduled for the end of the summer. The Russian ace had already put in a series of good performances during the Wimbledon Championships, where he had also put world number 2 Carlos Alcaraz in trouble by losing in four sets in the round of 16.
The player from Moscow also reached the round of 16 at the Toronto Masters 1000, after defeating Hugo Gaston in his debut and Italian star Lorenzo Sonego in the third round. Andrey – who reached the final in Montreal last year – made an excellent comeback against Sonego showing that he has recovered mental strength, but further tests will be needed to understand the real consistency of the Russian.
His next opponent will be Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who is playing very well at the moment and has no intention of stopping there. Rublev occupies the 11th position in the ATP ranking at the moment, but he is very close to the tenth position held by Lorenzo Musetti (who has already been eliminated by Alex Michelsen) and will overtake him by passing the next round.
Rublev does not like these courts
Meanwhile, the former Top 10 player gave a long interview to 'Tennis Channel' in which he highlighted how these courts leave little room for tactics and strategy.
As a spectator, I enjoy watching tennis on slower courts a lot more," the Russian champion revealed. "A lot of people think of Wimbledon courts as quite fast, but grass is a surface that allows you to play longer rallies and make the transition from defense to attack. There is more room for strategy and you can change tactics in relation to the score. It takes more intelligence and athletic fitness to prevail on those fields.
The situation is very different on hard courts. I watched the match between Medvedev and Popyrin and there were very few rallies from baseline. Although Daniil was in action, the point ended with the serve and another shot in most cases."
