Andrey Rublev talks about his competition and goals at the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals


Andrey Rublev talks about his competition and goals at the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals

Andrey Rublev

Andrey Rublev with the Vienna Open trophy

It is no doubt that Andrey Rublev has been the breakthrough player of the ATP 2020 season. The 23-year-old has come to the limelight gradually, picking up top-tier upsets in the past two seasons.

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Rublev defeated stars like Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and even stunned Roger Federer in the past year. He has won five titles this year, including three after the restart of tennis, having an uneclipsed 40 wins in 2020. The Russian most recently won the Vienna Open, leading him to his career-best world ranking of 8.

He also secured a place at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, and is a top contender by virtue of his magnificent form.

Despite his form, Andrey Rublev has a realistic view on his season

Andrey Rublev also won a title in his home country this year, at St. Petersburg.

Rublev had his personal-best performance in a calendar year. However, he feels that he will have to prove his quality by showing consistent form in the future too. He doesn’t yet feel ‘comfortable’ being in the top 10 and needs to work some more.

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“Not really, for the moment, not really,” he said, speaking to Tennis Majors. “I mean, of course, I understand that this year, yes, maybe my level is top 10 because I am top 10, but I don’t feel yet if it’s real. I hope it’s not going to happen, as it happened to many players, that they did an amazing season, they become top 10, and then suddenly they went out and they couldn’t come back.”

He set his goal to be improving his level and competing well against the best of players. He would like to continue his 2020 form forward but remains cautious of the challenge involved.

“So the main goal for me is really to try to see if I can keep this level if I can keep improving if I can be here for a while and if I can compete against top players, (if I can) compete against top 20 players, because there’s so many things that I need to improve. And there are many guys who are doing some things much better than me. And these things I need to change and to improve them to be able to be here at this spot for a while at least,” he continued.

“My hopes for this week are to show my best,” says Rublev

A younger Andrey Rublev with one of his idols, Rafael Nadal. They are set to play the first match of the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals this Sunday.

Rublev secured a debut appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals this season. He was drawn in the London 2020 group, paired with Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Dominic Thiem.

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His first match is against world no. 2 Rafael Nadal on Sunday. Speaking about his hopes for this event, he said that he would give it his best shot.

“My hopes for this week are to show my best, to have a feeling when I go out, that I give my best and I can not judge myself (badly) for anything, to know that I give my hundred percent and I did my maximum, that I can do nothing better,” he said.

Also read: Nitto ATP Finals 2020: Rafael Nadal vs Andrey Rublev Preview, Head-to-Head and Prediction