Andrei Rublev struck the Greek with a percentage – Sport – Kommersant

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In Turin, at the Nitto ATP Finals, the final competition of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) with a prize fund of $ 7.25 million, the day after Daniil Medvedev, the second Russian participant, the fifth racket of the world, Andrei Rublev, entered the fight. In his first match, he confidently outplayed the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in two games, taking revenge from him for last year’s defeat in this tournament.

The match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrei Rublev before the first hit on the ball seemed like a meeting of equal opponents. In any case, a lot of facts hinted at this – both the ratio of their previous meetings (4: 4), and the position in the rating, where the Russian is only one step lower, and even the autumn results, according to which both seemed to be in decline. And, of course, one could recall last year’s Russian-Greek confrontation at the ATP Finals in London, where Tsitsipas prevailed only in the most persistent tie-break in the third game. Then Rublev did not have enough to win, and in many respects it was for this reason that he then failed to leave the group.

In Turin, however, it turned out differently. Tsitsipas – perhaps due to a hand injury he keeps secret – only at times looked like a tenacious tennis fighter with a solid serve and a one-handed backhand. And Rublev was just very good. His first serve hit rate in the first set (23 out of 25, or 92%) can be considered simply phenomenal, but it’s not even about him, but about the confidence that the Russian demonstrated even in situations when it was not so easy for him.

Rublev does not even remember when he introduced the ball into the game as flawlessly as in the first half of the match. And, of course, there was no installation for such statistics. “I just served with all my strength, and it turned out to hit,” the tennis player said after the game to the Kommersant correspondent, smiling. “But in the next game, perhaps, this will not happen.

By the way, when it became clear today that the match was drawing to a close and my nerves came into play, I didn’t give too many firsts. Although at important moments, of course, the pitch helped me out. “

Unlike the Russian, Tsitsipas’s problems could be traced from the very first minutes. And the outcome of the match was decided by the breaks made by Rublev in the fifth games of each game. Several branded, amazingly beautiful performances of the Greek backhand could not change anything that evening. Rublevskaya aggression in combination with stability predetermined the result – 6: 4, 6: 4 in 1 hour 31 minutes. Thus, unlike last year, when the Russian started in the final tournament with a quick defeat to Rafael Nadal, now the first round was different for him.

And there is a logical explanation for this. “Arriving in London, I put too much pressure on myself. I thought that, having spent a successful season with a great level of play, cool victories, I had every chance to play the same way again, but instead I simply could not cope with the situation. Now I just try not to think about such things, “Rublev explained to Kommersant. On Wednesday, he will meet with Novak Djokovic, who also has one victory, and in another match, the losers of the first round Stefanos Tsitsipas and the Norwegian Kasper Ruud will play.

Evgeny Fedyakov

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