Emmanuel LANGELLIER: published on Saturday April 17, 2021 at 12h54
By dominating Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo, Andrey Rublev made an impression. Before taking the lead in the ATP ranking?
On Saturday afternoon, Andrey Rublev will try to reach his first final at the Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo. Friday, he signed a huge performance by offering himself the master of the place, Rafael Nadal, winner of eleven times on the Rock, in three sets (6-2, 4-6, 6-2) and won the right to face Casper Ruud in the last four. At 23, the Russian ranked 8th in the world has been hurting, very badly, for many months already, and it is probably not over …
“Technically incredible stuff”
Although lacking an impressive physique, Rublev hits very hard on both sides and distributes the game with regularity. In the Principality, he marked the spirits with his feat in front of Nadal. He knows the Côte d’Azur well, since at the age of 14 he trained there. “I detected him in the final phase of the Nike Junior Tour in Punta Cana, at 11 years old. Andrey was a year early. He had reached the final. And I had him signed, remembers in L’Equipe Philippe Weiss, who was then head of Nike tennis sponsorship for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The kid was already doing amazing things technically. I’ve been doing this job for twenty-five years, there are only two or three players who have marked me so much. Richard (Gasquet), it was the earliest, the most in advance. What he was doing at 9-10 years old was surreal. Federer, everyone knows. Rublev, I put it not very far behind. In terms of quality of strike, strike plan, forehand and backhand. He was small, and he was a kid that stood out right in your face. It’s the same generation as Sasha (Zverev), but that has nothing to do with it. He was stronger in terms of potential. I always thought he was going to be stronger than Zverev. “
“The only limit, it may be physical”
Currently, Alexander Zverev is ahead (6th in the ATP ranking) as Daniil Medvedev (2nd), Dominic Thiem (4th) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (5th), brought to take power when the three giants of the game (Djokoic, Nadal and Federer) hang up. rackets. Philippe Weiss, he sees Rublev going to the highest step. “The most important point is that this project has always been his. Yes, he was pushed by his mother, who is a tennis teacher, his older sister, who played really well and who was always there, but I always felt that was his thing. There was an excess of anger because he wanted so badly to get there … It wasn’t someone else’s plan. And so, he always had that intensity. The only limit, it is perhaps physical, underlines the one who is today agent at Tennium.
“The problem with the Russians is that they do a lot of technical time on the court from an early age. But Andrey didn’t work physically soon enough, and you never really get him back. But with his energy and his hyper-clean technique that allows him to do anything, he will be stronger than the others because he wants more than the others. When there is no more Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, he will be on top. For me, he will finish world number 1, ”says Weiss. We will have to wait a few more years probably because if Federer could stop at the end of the season, Djokovic and Nadal should evolve a few more seasons on the circuit.-
