So far, the season has been particularly successful for Andrey Rublev. The 24-year-old Russian tennis player reached two Masters 1000 finals (Monte Carlo and Cincinnati, both lost), as well as victory in his fourth consecutive ATP 500 in Rotterdam.
The icing on the cake came with the official qualification for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin alongside Matteo Berrettini. Rublev, also a doubles finalist at Indian Wells with compatriot Aslan Karatsev, has now decided to move on to his local hard court in Moscow, where he will make his debut against Mannarino.
At the press conference, the current world number 6 looked back on his season, admitting that he was particularly tired by the number of games played. “This is really my first year in the top 10 – says Rublev – so there’s a lot of pressure on me, which should be normal, but it’s still unusual.
So it’s hard for me to show my best tennis every week, the best players do it a lot better. However, I managed to qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin, which shows that I have been very consistent throughout the year.
The most important thing for me, in fact, is that I did not make it out of the top 10. Despite this, it is clear that I still have a lot of room for improvement and a lot to work on. For me, especially from a mental point of view, everything is going well, because I love tennis, I love traveling and playing tournaments. ”
In a recent interview with La Nacion, Leonardo Mayer opened up on a number of topics, including the famous GOAT debate. Mayer admitted it was “difficult” to pick one out of the three, but revealed he considers Roger Federer the greatest of all time.
Mayer talks about Roger Federer
Former world number 21 Leonardo Mayer believes Roger Federer is the greatest player in the history of the sport because he “does everything right” Mayer, who retired from the sport earlier this month, also explained why training with Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal has pros and cons.
“I couldn’t train. I wasn’t going to be able to take the pressure that being with Federer meant, I couldn’t, ”Mayer explained. “(Ivan) Ljubicic, Federer’s coach, contacted the team (Mariano Hood), who was with me, and offered to him.
I told him to let me think a bit, but in the end I refused. ” The Argentine has revealed that Federer’s camp has been taken aback by his rejection. Mayer explained that it was “nice” to train with people like Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, but in the same breath he stressed that he didn’t want to “suffer” in the face of their flawless tennis.
“They couldn’t believe it; imagine… I don’t know what excuse they must have given her, ”Mayer continued. “But I didn’t feel ready to go there for a week, I thought it was in Geneva.
I didn’t want to suffer. It’s very nice to train with Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, but at the same time they generate extra pressure, because they don’t miss a ball and you have to be one hundred percent. ”
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