“His achievements mean nothing” Idol of Andrey Rublev and former World No.1, Marat Safin calls him out

“His achievements mean nothing” Idol of Andrey Rublev and former World No.1, Marat Safin calls him out

Marat Safin, Andrey Rublev

Andrey Rublev

The World No.8, Andrey Rublev, has secured the most number of titles at the ATP Tour this year. He is ahead of the likes of two of the greatest players of all time, i.e, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Further, Rublev has broken into the Top-10 and qualified to contend at the Nitto ATP Finals as well.

Inspite of winning three ATP-500 titles, and seemingly being one of the most in-form players, Marat Safin remains indifferent towards the 23-year-old. Rather, Safin has gone on to state that Andrey’s victories “don’t mean anything.”

Safin voices his disapproval of Rublev

Marat Safin, Andrey Rublev

In an interview with GoTennis, Safin stated that since Rublev’s wins don’t amount to much since they “are not Masters, not Grand Slams. Novak Djokovic won less but finished first (in the rankings).”

Rublev succeeded to sweep the ATP 500 and ATP 250 events. Even though he didn’t win a maiden Grand Slam title, he did succeed to reach the quarter-finals at the U.S Open and French Open. He did so whilst downing players like Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas who are ranked higher than him. 

However, Marat just seemed to discount the progress Rublev’s made and resorted to criticising him.

Further he added, “Andrey needs to switch and play in major tournaments. You need to go to the semi-finals and the Grand Slam finals to be in the top three.”

Marat also cited a mental barrier with Rublev. While Safin pointed out the rich arsenal the youngster possesses, he stated that “Andrey needs to learn not to break down in stressful situations.”

Also Read: “Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem have the courage to admit they lost because of pressure,” states Andrey Rublev