Andrey Rublev grew heaps this year. The Russian star showed us some great performances this year, but there is still a lot of growth to be done. He is infamous for harming himself during frustrating periods during his match, which shows room for mental growth. His coach recently came out and talked about what he lacks to climb to the level of Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic.
As he discussed the growth that still needs to be done by Rublev, he also mentioned instances to back his words. Fernando Vicente talked about the balance missing from Rublev’s mind.
The Rafael Nadal/Novak Djokovic quality missing from Andrey Rublev
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Fernando Vicente recently interviewed with Tennis Majors, where he talked about what the 2024 season looks like for Rublev. In the interview, he also discussed the qualities of Rublev which are missing. When asked if they’re working on developing a champion’s mindset, Vicente says they are still working on it and that it is never over. He further talked about balance and focus; if one doesn’t have it, it’s all over.
He further said, “You can see Novak (Djokovic), Daniil (Medvedev), Rafa, they win or they lose, but they have this balance, you know, sometimes they go crazy, but they still have the same level. Andrey’s level drops as soon as he starts to go crazy with these things. And he needs to understand (that). So we are working to make him understand that that cannot happen if you want to achieve these things.”
The coach further talked about his shots and some improvement factors, “I’m not talking about shots, his forehand is one of the best, his backhand, I don’t know how to make a ranking about these things (but) his serve is good. We need to keep improving second serve, we need to go forward much more to close the points. All these things.”
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Tennis fans are aware of the moment Rublev’s coach is discussing maintaining balance and focus in the ATP Finals.
Rublev’s ATP Finals outburst
Rublev’s frustration had built up as the ATP Finals progressed. The Russian star lost his first round-robin match and then the second one against Carlos Alcaraz. But before he lost to the Spaniard, a worrisome incident took place during the match. He lost the first game of the second set and would go on to smash his racket repeatedly on his knee.
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He cut his knee as he smacked above his knee six times. The situation could not be avoided after the match, and Rublev said that his knee was fine and nothing happened to him. The moment raised some concern for the player and evoked his coach to say that he needs to grow.
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