Martina Navratilova shocked by Andrei Rublev: ‘He hits himself’

With the elimination of Novak Djokovic in the third round of the US Open 2024insiders and fans were convinced that Andrei Rublev finally overcome the quarter-final hurdles of a Grand Slam tournament.

After a long period of crisis – during which he had difficulty controlling his nerves, even through the Olympic Games in Paris – the Russian player seemed to be back in good form on the American hardcourt, after reaching the final in Montreal (losing to Australia) Alexei Popyrin) and the quarterfinals in Cincinnati (defeated by Jannik Sinner In three sets).

Rublev knew he had a big chance in New York, especially after the shock elimination of 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, but was defeated in the round of 16 by Grigor Dimitrov in five sets. Andrey started the match badly by losing the first two sets, but he responded very well by changing the slowness of the challenge and extending the match to the fifth set. In the decisive moment Rublev played a bad serve and that drop made the Bulgarian ace reach the quarterfinals (where he will face the American ace Frances Tiafoe).

Navratilova opens at Rublev

The Russian champion has shown once again that he lacks the mental strength to go far in a Grand Slam tournament, a feeling that continues to haunt him and threatens to affect his entire career. During his match against Dimitrov in New York, Rublev once again gave free rein to his nervousness and to be overwhelmed by frustration instead of trying to respond to the difficulties.

In conversation with Sky Sports, tennis legend and top analyst Martina Navratilova opened up about Andrey’s bad attitude on the court: “He hits himself and the negative energy just can’t help it. He keeps making the same mistake. You’re worried about him. Come on, just deal with it. You’re only hurting yourself, literally physically and emotionally. He needs to save his energy for good things, like hitting tennis balls. Not hitting his head. He has the game to win a MajorI believe that. He has the big serve, the big forehand and he just needs to improve his net game a little bit. The sky is the limit. That guy has everything. He just needs to work on his mentality. He’s such a nice guy.”

Recently, the Russian ace spoke about his frustrations of the past few months: “Mentally I was not well. I don’t know how you can say it. I was struggling with everything. I think it was a long moment of everything, and I started to burn out because I was struggling with depression for years, with a lot of things outside of the court.

“I think this year I couldn’t handle it anymore and it just started to explode. It started to explode more and more on the court, because in life I could stay calm, but on the court I burned everything,” he added. “In the end I had a hard time. Now I feel really good these last few months and tennis is better right away.”

Andrey needs help

The triumph at the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open in the spring seemed to have calmed the Russian player down again, but the situation deteriorated further in the following months and Rublev really seemed a shadow of his former self. ATP legend John McEnroe also spoke about Andrey’s current status: “Listen to someone who knows how to go crazy, if you’re going to go crazy, you have to know when to back off so you can keep your focus and concentration and play well. If it helps you, which it did to me a lot of times, you keep doing it until they say ‘One more and you’re out’. If it doesn’t help, you should move on to a plan B.

These were a tough few months for Andrey. He got defaulted in the Middle East and that wasn’t the right decision. Then he went on a four-game losing streak; he doesn’t beat anyone. Then he won Madrid of all things without winning, so everyone thought, ‘Woah, maybe he can win this’. I don’t think his confidence was that high.”

The impression is that Rublev has to work for a very long time to achieve the right mental stability. Until then, it will be difficult for him to really aim for winning a MajorDespite a very high level of play, the Russian champion never got beyond the quarter-finals in the four most important tournaments in the world.