At the press conference, Andrey Rublev analyzed his success against Carlos Alcaraz which guaranteed him the semifinal of the Mutua Madrid Open 2024.
The Russian tennis player explained what the secrets of success were, especially after losing the first set. A success that took away – by his own admission – a lot of energy.
“I feel great, very tired, but it’s normal. Now I have a day of rest to be 100% ready for the semi-final. It was a fantastic match and I think the atmosphere, at least for me, was very good. I really enjoyed playing in front of a full stadium, even when everyone was supporting Carlos, which is normal. But I had no energy or strength to do anything other than concentrate on the game. I didn’t have the energy to complain today,” he said.
Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev © Getty Images Sport – Clive Brunskill
Rublev then explained how his serve was fundamental to the victory.
“In the last two matches I started very well and won a lot with the serve. Obviously it is very useful to win matches with a couple of free points on the serve and even today I was serving very well. At first I didn’t start serving well, but then during the match I managed to calm down, play better, hit better and serve better. At the end of the match, I felt I could serve in any direction,” he told.
After a couple of rather negative months, with four defeats in a row against lower level opponents, the Russian returned to express his best level and the most convincing victory of the last period came against Alcaraz.
He interrupted the race of the two-time reigning champion, overcoming a set deficit and finishing with a score of 4-6 6-3 6-2.
Andrey Rublev© Julian Finney / Staff Getty Images Sport
Rublev told also what happened with the chair umpire
Always at the press conference, Rublev then commented on the misunderstanding with the chair umpire when he erased the mark on a ball after asking for a challenge.
“It was weird. I asked for the challenge, so they should have shown it. Then normally I am the one who decides what to do with the ball mark, whether to delete it or not because I had already asked for the challenge.
I understand that if I delete it first and then ask, it’s a little strange. But if I had already asked it before and the judge had announced it and then I go to the mark and delete it while waiting for the replay, I didn’t know that this counted as not asking again.
So I told him to at least explain this rule before the game, why don’t you ever say this before the game and why do the rules keep changing? You should at least explain it before the meeting because otherwise it happens.
Andrey Rublev© Clive Brunskill / Staff Getty Images Sport
But well, that’s how it went, after all it was a misunderstanding. I don’t know what this win means for my season, but this week means a lot.
It doesn’t matter what happens in the semi-final, because it has already been a positive week in which I played fantastic tennis, because I played well from the first match. The important thing now is to rest, recover and then give my best on Friday,” he revealed.
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