Andrey Rublev has a precise goal for 2023, and he openly declared it to the media in Doha, where he will begin his journey at the Dubai Tennis Championships to try to repeat last year’s success. The victory sealed in 2022, however, does not represent a reason to rest on his laurels for the Russian, who is thinking about the present.
Rublev told: “I feel I have great memories here, of winning the title one year and also another in doubles, but those great moments have passed. I feel like it’s a new tournament, it’s something that happens to me every week, sometimes at a place where I won the previous year I end up losing in the first round.
Then you can win another tournament you’ve never been to before, so you never know. Maybe here I lose in the first round and then win the next tournament, or vice versa. You can’t control these things.”
Rublev wants to progress in the mental aspect
The main intention, for Andrey Rublev, is to face his tennis season with a different mental approach.
An aspect, the psychological one, on which the number 5 in the world has a great desire to progress, with the aim of learning to control his emotions and not fall at the mercy of them. He explained: “In my case it’s not about tennis, it’s probably more about an emotional part and the things I look for off the court.
Because last year there were a lot of things that I did very well off the court, things that helped me a lot, but I also did a lot of negative things that brought me down. Last season I had a lot of ups and downs, so the goal this season is not to have as many ups and downs.
And if I have them, at least to have less”. Rublev, in Doha, will find himself facing very different conditions compared to the past: “Here the conditions are good, I remember when we played here in the first week of the year, where there was almost no wind and the weather was perfect.
It’s different now, there’s more wind, so it’s more difficult to play and the level has balanced, because you can’t hit in the same way. With these conditions you can’t play as in normal conditions, you have to let the ball in, everything becomes more difficult.
Especially for players who are normally stronger, so we’ll see, I hope I can show a great level.”
