San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Rublev brings hot hand, red mane to Open
There’s no doubt Andy Murray will be the sizzle when sneakers begin to squeak at the $600,000 San Diego Open, given his trio of Grand Slam singles crowns.op
Make no mistake: Andrey Rublev, a 23-year-old Russian with a mop of unruly red hair, is the steak.
The rising ATP Tour star who used to sleep with his racket as a child, who also speaks English and Spanish, who splits current musical must-listens between Imagine Dragons and Iron Maiden, is a legitimate who’s-who himself.
Rublev has rocketed to No. 5 in the world as he packs for San Diego.
“I want to reach No. 1,” Rublev said in a recent interview. “I think that’s normal for every tennis player when they’re young. I would like to achieve the highest position.
We’ll see if it happens or not.”
The smart money is running heavily against “or not.”
Scrambling into the Top 5 puts Rublev, hardly a household name beyond tennis circles, ahead of childhood idol Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Rublev has become a mashing hard-court monster, winning the fifth-most matches since 2018 — also ahead of Nadal and Federer and just seven behind calendar Grand Slam flirt Novak Djokovic. The six hardcourt titles during that span are tied with Federer for No. 5 on Tour.
In 2020, Rublev was attached to a vapor trail from the start. He became the first player since 2004 to capture back-to-back titles the first two weeks of the season. He led the Tour with five titles and tied for the most wins (41).
When the main draw begins Monday at Barnes Tennis Center, Rublev will be the tournament’s highest ranked player.
“To be honest, I was not thinking this way,” Rublev said of zooming past legends in the rankings. “I was not thinking if I’m going to pass them or when I’m going to pass them. Rafa and Roger, Novak are playing for different things. They’re not playing to be Top 25.
“For them, it doesn’t matter if they’re No. 3 in the world. They’re playing for records and slams.”
Rublev, it appears, has maintained maturity and focus in spite of the rocket ship to which he’s strapped. Asked what big splurge he made when he began banking real money, during a career that is nearing $9.4 million, he paused.
Buy a Black Sea villa? Climb into an Aston Martin? Build a backyard zoo?
“When I reached my first quarter(final) at the U.S. Open (in 2017), I was able to cover my expenses for the year,” said Rublev, who became the youngest to reach that round of an Open since Andy Roddick in 2001. “Maybe that year, I bought a jacket or sneakers or things like that.”
At 6-2 and 165 pounds, the lanky Rublev pounds away with an imposing forehand that belies his size. Part of it is rooted in diving into the sport with such youthful exuberance that he often found his racket in his bed as the new day broke.
The closer the racket, the quicker he could race to the courts.
“I was in love,” Rublev said of tennis. “I would be watching top matches and, I don’t know, because I wanted to practice so badly the next morning.”
Now, people are watching him.
As his standing in the sport grows, so has public awareness. A late-night Russian show had Rublev play table tennis against audience members. A Twitter account out of Barcelona called “Andrey Rublev’s precious limbs” describes itself as “dedicated to the arms and legs of Andrey Rublev. No objectification, just love and adoration.”
Instagram fan pages stretch from Mexico to Vietnam.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Rublev said of the strangest bit of his public persona. “Now I have a nickname on Instagram because of the way I scream on the court.”
Rublev benefited from an unforgettable brush with tennis fame along the way.
In 2014, at age 16, Rublev’s tennis coaching mother took him to the popular Spanish vacation destination of Majorca. Someone approached with a jaw-dropping question.
A Russian connection asked if would like to practice with Nadal.
“I said, ‘Of course,’ ” Rublev said. “I was more nervous to do something wrong or to talk too much. So, I was trying to give him a lot of space. I was shy and afraid to do something that, maybe, he might feel I was a little bit crazy.
“But I was really excited. I tried to give my best every practice.”
That level of respect? These days, the feeling might be mutual.