Andrey Rublev says he needs to be 'more professional and positive to reach next level' after beating Novak Djokovic
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Published 27/04/2022 at 08:40 GMT
Andrey Rublev won his third title of the year at the Serbia Open after beating Novak Djokovic in the final, but he is still yet to make his mark at any Grand Slam. He has only reached the quarter-finals four times out of 18 main-draw appearances and has won just four matches at the French Open. He says there are areas he needs to work on to challenge the very best in the world.
Rublev downs Djokovic in Serbia Open final
Andrey Rublev has outlined the changes he needs to make to his game to reach the “next level”, including improving mentally and being “more professional and positive”.
World No. 8 Rublev has not yet made his breakthrough at a Grand Slam, only reaching the quarter-finals four times out of 18 main-draw appearances.
At the French Open he has only won four matches and at Wimbledon only five. At this year’s Australian Open he was beaten in the third round by Marin Cilic.
Asked what he needs to improve, Rublev told Tennis Majors: “The mental aspect of the game.
“I cannot allow myself to waste time and energy on the nonsense I sometimes do, it is better to focus on the game itself and to fight for every ball.
“Game-wise, there are details I need to work on. I need to develop a better feel so that I can return more balls in the court, slicing for instance. Some players do not play aggressively, but they give you balls that are pretty difficult to attack – sometimes, I lack those kinds of shots in my game.
“Furthermore, I need to have more confidence coming forward. There are a lot of rallies where I get a shorter ball and I do not come to the net because I am uncertain. Or I do come, but you can see I do not feel that comfortable. I need to break that barrier in my head because I feel I can get more points that way.
“Also, I need for my second serve to be faster. It would be a huge advantage, since it would be harder to break me. In part, that is mental as well, because in practice I hit second serves harder and I rarely make double faults. But in the match, when I feel pressure, sometimes I am afraid to go for it, particularly when it is 30–30 or break point or advantage. Then I just push the ball in order to start the point. I need to say to myself ‘just do it’.”
Rublev also says he wants to be more “professional” and cut down on some of the emotion he shows on court, such as at Indian Wells when he punched his racquet so hard he made his hand bleed.
“Sometimes I watch videos and I think ‘what am I doing?’ I am trying to eradicate those things from my game.
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Rublev crushes Fognini to set up final against Djokovic
“I want to be more professional and more positive on the court. I feel like that is what I am missing in order to reach the next level.”
Rublev has enjoyed a positive start to the 2022 season, capturing his third title at the Serbia Open after beating Novak Djokovic in the final.
He says he is still not certain of his best surface, even though most of his tournaments wins have come on hard courts.
“I am not sure, as I have had great results on clay and hard, I have even played one final on grass last year. I like indoors too, so it is a positive that I can play well on all surfaces. Still, I consider clay court tennis to be the real tennis because you need stamina and fitness, and you need to be tactically smart.
“On clay, if you do things the right way, usually you win. On grass, sometimes you can do things the right way and still lose because the opponent is serving tremendously and makes a crazy return or two in the key moments. Something like that cannot happen on clay, so I feel that on clay the results are more just, in a way.”
Rublev has won 23 out of 28 matches played this year and his win over Djokovic was the first time he has beaten a current world No. 1.
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