The real Andrey Rublev is back. And perhaps even better than ever.
Rublev went into the Mutua Madrid Open hoping to turn around a spring season that had been derailed both on and off the court. The Russian was defaulted from a match in Dubai for berating a linesman, won just a single match throughout the Sunshine Double in Indian Wells and Miami, and had had lost four matches in a row prior to arriving at 2024’s second clay-court Masters 1000 tournament.
It was all going wrong for Rublev. But tennis is a fickle sport, and suddenly it’s all going right.
With wins over Facundo Bagnis, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and Tallon Griekspoor under his belt, Rublev’s resurgence was already in progress heading into Wednesday’s quarterfinal showdown against Carlos Alcaraz. The world No. 8 put an exclamation point on it–with perhaps more still to come–with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 upset of the two-time defending champion. Rublev fired 30 winners (19 off the forehand side) while advancing in one hour and 59 minutes.
“I think the key was I was completely calm the whole match,” Rublev noted. “I did not say one word, even if I was losing. That was the key and I was able to serve even better near the end. In the beginning, I was not serving that well but little by little, after set one, I served better and better and finished really well…. I think the serve saved me a lot of times today.”
The 26-year-old is through to his third semifinal of the season. He kicked off his 2024 campaign with a title in Hong Kong and reached the semis in Dubai before being defaulted against Alexander Bublik. That sent Rublev into his downward spiral–which now seems to be a thing of the past.
“When you start to think of how good everything is, then for six weeks I was not winning at all,” he reflected. “So it is better to not think at all. It is just a moment and it happens to everyone. Everyone has been through these moments and the most important thing is to keep working and keep improving.”
Rublev awaits wither Taylor Fritz or Francisco Cerundolo in Friday’s semifinals.
