On Sunday, January 14, at the first Grand Slam tournament of the season in the men’s category, the opening matches were held for the participants of the upper halves of the singles category. The second Russian racket, Andrey Rublev, who took fifth place, also played his first match at the Australian Open 2024. The opponent of the 26-year-old Muscovite was the Brazilian representative Thiago Wilde.
Tennis players approached the Australian Major in completely different moods. Rublev started this season successfully with victories in the World Tennis League and a tournament in Hong Kong. This was the national athlete’s 15th title and his undefeated streak already spans four games. Recall that in the battle for the Andrey trophy he defeated Emil Ruusuvuori from Finland.
“I would like to say… Emil was a bit unlucky. I think after the 2021 or 2022 US Open we trained with him almost every day. Since then we have established good relations and become friends. All of our training was really intense. I progressed because Emil helped me in training.
Emil, I really enjoy playing with you. I like to meet such a good person. You have one of the strongest and most powerful shots I have seen in tennis. I wish your entire team the best, they really care about you. I hope you continue to be surrounded only by good people. You deserve many, many more victories. The best titles, man,” Rublev said in an on-court interview.
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Then Andrey went to Melbourne, where he had to defend his points from last year’s quarterfinals. Let us remember that last season the Russian lost to the future tournament champion Novak Djokovic (1-6, 2-6, 4-6). In addition, before the defeat against the Serbian, the Russian managed to obtain several solid victories: over Holger Rune, Daniel Evans, Emil Ruusuvuori and Dominic Thiem.
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After the official release of the Australian Open 2024 draw, national experts managed to assess the chances of their compatriots at the Major. Thus, the honorary coach of the RSFSR, Viktor Yanchuk, said that Russian tennis players are now in the prime of their lives and are ready to fight for victory in Grand Slam tournaments, and Andrei Rublev is in the best spirit.
“Our boys are in a golden age in which they need to put in good performances. They already have a lot of experience, but they are not veterans yet. Now is the golden time to pick up the helmet. Rublev, who has yet to win a Grand Slam, is probably especially interested in this. Last year he won a very good and strong tournament in Monte Carlo, where everyone played. This suggests that he can win a big tournament, but if he doesn’t start himself, he will burn out inside. He really wants to win and sometimes this leads him to make mistakes on simple objectives. That’s why he creates problems for himself, because if he is in good shape he can beat anyone,” Yanchuk quotes Gazeta.Ru.
Rublev’s opponent in the opening circle of the Australian Open was 23-year-old Brazilian Thiago Wilde. As a junior, he won the 2018 US Open, after which he began to be considered the new rising tennis star in his country. The athlete still cannot realize all his hopes. Honestly, it is very difficult for the Brazilian to perform at the ATP level. At the beginning of the new season, the native of Marechal-Candido-Rondona competed in the United Cup, where he lost two of his individual matches: against the Spanish Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and the Polish Hubert Hurkacz. Wild then went to a tournament in Adelaide, where he entered the main draw as a lucky loser. At the same time, already at the beginning of the competition he sheathed his racket, unable to resist the attack of the owner of the court, Alex Bolt.
The meeting between Wilde and Rublev was the first for the rivals. It is worth noting that in 2023, the Brazilian made a splash in the first round of Roland Garros, eliminating another Russian, Daniil Medvedev, in a clay major. Therefore, in any case, Andrei should have distrusted his opponent.
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Therefore, it was not surprising to see how Wild was in a special mood for the confrontation with another great opponent from Russia. The Brazilian started aggressively and immediately took the lead with a break, although already at the beginning of the confrontation the Monte Carlo Masters champion had a break point for 2-0. However, closer to the middle of the game, the 26-year-old Muscovite came into play and took the initiative. Andrey confidently held his serve and in the end was able to give the finishing touch to his opponent. The Russian paused in the eleventh game: on the decisive ball, Wild made a mistake by exchanging blows from the baseline. Thus, the fifth racket in the world had the opportunity to serve for the set, which he finally took advantage of 7:5 in 50 minutes. Rublev was ahead in completed shots (14:9), and Thiago had more unforced errors (19:10).
Andrei Rublev
Photo: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images
Andrey also played the second set with great confidence. The Russian held his serve well and constantly forced his opponent to return. The national athlete even led the game with a score of 5-1, but lost the thread of the game a little and allowed the Brazilian to get closer to him on the scoreboard. Fortunately for Rublev, this did not affect the outcome of the set in any way. He took the match 6-4 in 40 minutes. By the way, Thiago had finger problems throughout the entire playing time, which prevented him from adequately resisting Andrey. The Brazilian tried to slow the pace, often going to the net, because on the baseline he was objectively losing to the 26-year-old Muscovite. It turned out that this tactical maneuver did not bring any special benefit to the world’s 78th racket.
However, in the third game, Rublev’s serve sank and he began to make more errors in rallies. At the same time, the Russian was able to solve all the problems at the beginning of the set, that is, in the third game, but he missed three of his receiving opportunities. “If you don’t break, you get broken”: a rule that flowed smoothly from football to tennis. Already in the next game, the Brazilian clearly showed how to use break points wisely and took another’s serve at the first attempt. In the end, Wild calmly took the set to a 6:3 victory.
Thiago Salvaje
Photo: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images
Thiago gathered his courage and acted well in the plays, constantly forcing the Russian to receive. Already in the third game of the match, the Brazilian had two break points, but Andrey survived and regained his serve. At the same time, the 23-year-old from Marechal-Cándido-Rondona appeared more relaxed on the court, appeared more confident than his opponent and was rewarded with a long-awaited break midway through the set, taking it. with a score of 6:4. Towards the end of the match, Rublev, in his usual style, exposed all his emotions, shouting quite a bit. I worried a lot about Andrey.
The decisive game took place in a fierce fight. Both tennis players took their serves. At the same time, he couldn’t shake the feeling that at the decisive moment Andrey would improve and still put the finishing touches on his opponent. Several times Wild’s serve was 0:30 and even 0:40, but the Brazilian constantly got out of difficult situations and knew how to hold his serve. In the twelfth game of the set, Rublev got a triple match point and again Thiago managed to escape a dangerous score. The Wild then recovered another match point. Let’s keep in mind that the 78th racket in the world saved all these balls not thanks to aces, but served with the second ball. In the super tie-break, the Russian was on fire 2-5, but several vague tactical actions by his opponent led to the world’s fifth racket turning the tide in game 13 and snatching the final victory from his opponent. with a score of 7:5, 6:4, 3:6, 4:6, 7:6 (10:6) in 3 hours 42 minutes. In the next round, Rublev will face the winner of the match between Christopher Eubanks (USA) and Daniel Taro (Japan).
The 2024 Australian Open will be held from January 14 to 28. Follow all the events of the Melbourne tournament in the “Championship”.
