Andrey Rublev gave fans an insight into the mental health issues he has endured in comments made ahead of the 2025 Dubai Championships.
Last month, the ten-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist bravely spoke about questioning whether he wanted to live anymore because of mental health battles that he found challenging to overcome.
Rublev’s admission explained some of his outbursts on the court. While he has always had fiery moments during matches, some incidents, including making his knee bleed after repeatedly hitting it, caused concern.
The 2024 Madrid Open gave more details about those off-court struggles before the ATP 500 event in Dubai. Rublev said he lost his way for a couple of years and struggled with the purpose of living.
“I was just kind of in a loop, lost with myself for a couple of years of not finding the way, not understanding what to do, what for? It sounds a bit dramatic or whatever, but like what’s the reason or purpose to live? Just completely lost with myself.”
“And the thing is, it was not … One thing is when it’s happening one month, two months, three months, okay, maybe you still have patience or something. But when it’s happening one year, two years, three years, four years, five, and it’s coming for many, many years, in one moment it’s like you cannot take it anymore.”
Rublev received help from two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin. Although he admits to not feeling entirely better, the 27-year-old is in an improved place and wants to build from that.
“With the help of Marat, he kind of made me understand myself or look at myself, and that was a bit of a restart from rock bottom and from there at least I was able little by little to start to move in a better direction and now I’m moving little by little in this better direction.”
“I’m not happy, I’m not in a good or bad place, but I’m not feeling any more stress, I’m not feeling anxious, I’m not having depression. I’m just neutral, not happy, not bad, but at least I found the base and that’s like a beginning.”
Rublev, one of the most well-liked players among his peers, has taken inspiration from the basketball player Steph Curry, who writes messages on his shoes to get himself in the right frame of mind before matches.
“I was watching one of the videos from Steph Curry where he was explaining what helps him before the match to be in a good mood or be ready for the game to do some throws or some sprints. And then he said that he’s writing before the game on the shoes some words that motivate him. That mean a lot to him.”
“And I said, okay, that’s a really good option to write it on a shoe because you see it every time you put the shoe on. You see it when you look down and it doesn’t go away and it’s easy to write there. And so I started to do it. And this word, I don’t know, is something that triggers me in a good way.”
