There are less than two weeks left for the start of the last Grand Slam tournament of this year, the US Open. And in general, the form of Russian tennis players before the main start of the season is not a cause for concern, with one very unpleasant and unexpected exception. The second racket of Russia, Andrei Rublev, lost for the third match in a row, and if you pay attention to the level of his opponents in these meetings, it’s time to talk about a protracted crisis.
fake images
The reasons for alarm appeared at the end of July, after Rublev’s departure from the Hamburg tournament. The same failure in the second round could still be considered an unfortunate accident, were it not for the ease with which Andrei let his opponent through to the next stage. In the match against the lost stars of the sky, German Daniel Altmaier, Rublev stayed on the court for just over an hour and only won four games, which is not the most pleasant line in the history of a top ten player. . world ranking
The only excuse for Rublev could be that the tournament was played on clay, and the fans expected Andrei to arrive armed for the hard part of the season. But already at the beginning of the Masters in Toronto, a huge disappointment awaited them: Mackenzie MacDonald’s victory over Aslan Karatsev did not particularly surprise anyone. But the fact that the American left the tournament bracket behind and Rublev was already a mini-sensation with a minus sign.
fake images
At the same time, there were no reports of injuries received by Rublev, which could interfere so much with his game. It seems that Andrei simply wasn’t ready for the most important part of the tennis year. And the subsequent course of events only confirmed this thesis. “Masters” in Cincinnati, he, as the seventh seed, again started from the second round. And then everything, like a blueprint, recalled the ignominious performance of Andrey in Canada -a rival who does not belong to the elite of world tennis-, this time it was Finn Emil Ruusuvuori, torment on the court and exit to the delight of the tennis players of his country. half of the grid.
In this regard, the question arises: how is Rublev going to play at the US Open, if for the two most important tournaments on hard, which, among other things, gives solid bonus points, he could not pass anyone? And who is to blame for what is happening with Andrei now? Himself, the coach or some external factors about which Rublev prefers to keep silent. An equally tangible failure at one of the main tournaments of the year can seriously hit the positions of the Russian tennis player in the rating. And, in principle, such statistics for a fairly solid period of time do not paint the undoubted star of Russian tennis at all.
fake images
I would not like to believe in the gross miscalculations of Rublev and his coach in the preparation – before there were no doubts about Andrey’s professional attitude to business. But for the moment everything is going to the fact that even his entry into the second week of the US Open is very doubtful, and almost any rival can be an insurmountable barrier. And Rublev has almost no time to correct the situation. Anger at oneself in this matter is a bad help, but what can be radically changed in two weeks, besides the mood and psychological, remains a mystery.
