Andrey Rublev’s amazingly detailed interview about dramatic win at Australian Open has studio in stitches
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Published 23/01/2023 at 12:41 GMT
The Eurosport studio couldn’t believe how open Andrey Rublev was about his dramatic match against Holger Rune which he won in a deciding set tie-break. Rublev explained that there were several moments in the match that he thought his 2023 Australian Open was over - he was forced to save two match points before coming back from 5-0 down in the tie-break to win.
'When he broke me I thought it was completely over' - Rublev tells Eurosport
Andrey Rublev had the Eurosport studio in stitches with an amazing debrief about his thrilling 6-3 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6(9) victory over Holger Rune.
Rublev saved two match points in a dramatic final set before forcing a tie-break, where he also found himself 5-0 down to Rune.
He fought his way back into the tie-break and booked a place in the quarter-finals by converting his third match point before talking in detail about how he won in the Eurosport Cube.
“First of all, actually in the fourth set, when I lost my serve at 5-4, losing two balls that were quite easy, I was already thinking that it’s going to be tough,” said Rublev.
“Then, when the fifth set starts, and he starts to hit just full power, everything - return, serve - I started to feel a lot of pressure.
“In the end, when he broke me, I was thinking it’s over, completely over, and maybe somehow, I relieve myself by thinking this way and in the end at 5-3, I was able to play a really focused game, and plus of course, he [got] a bit tight, which is normal, so I was able to [break] him.”
“When it was 6-5 and he had two match points, I was thinking inside, ‘I will make it - I don’t know, I will save them and I will go to the tie-break’.”
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Rublev outlasts Rune in five-set thriller - Australian Open highlights
Rublev is yet to reach a Grand Slam semi-final and will have it all to do when facing Novak Djokovic in the last eight on Wednesday, after the Serbian produced a dominant performance against Alex de Minaur.
It was a contrast to the battling Rublev who explained what went through his mind in the fifth set tie-break.
“When the tie-break [came] and it was 5-2, I was thinking it’s over,” he said. “I just was saying to myself ‘I don’t want the same thing like [what] happened at Roland Garros against [Marin] Cilic’, when I lost like 10-2 [in the final-set tie-break] or something.
“So I said, ‘OK, at least try to win more than two points, and then we’ll see’, and somehow, I started to win point by point, and actually when it was 9-7 and then at 9-8, I missed the drive forehand I played to him instead of [playing] to the other side. I played to him, and he passed me.
“Inside, I was still thinking that I will… I don’t know, now is the moment that I will make it. And then, this return [on the final point], I don’t know. I have no explanation, because [it] never happened in my life, this, never.
“Return, and make this [ball]. It was just a present, I don’t know, from the gods, I don’t know, from who, but yeah.”
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'Holger Rune let this one slip' - Eurosport analysis of Rune's tough loss to Rublev
Mats Wilander, Tim Henman and Alize Lim smiled and laughed at Rublev’s thorough analysis, with Lim describing it as “the best debrief of a tennis match I’ve ever heard in my life”.
Henman joked Rublev had answered all of his questions before asking how the fifth seed was feeling physically.
“For the moment, I have adrenaline so I feel OK,” said Rublev. “But for sure, later after one hour or something, I will start to feel tired, because I already start to feel hungry, so we will see.”
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