"Andrey Rublev lost his mind": Greg Rusedski says tennis star needs to "change behavior" after ATP Finals meltdown

Former world number four Greg Rusedski has urged Russia’s tennis star Andrey Rublev to keep his emotions in check.

The 26-year-old lost his cool in the group match during the ATP Finals in Turin against the world number two Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz. After losing the first set, Rublev started hitting his kneecap in anger during the match.

Those reactions did not go down well with the 1997 US Open finalist Rusedski who stated that the current world number five should work on his game instead of punishing himself which can lead to serious injuries.

“Rublev lost his mind,” he said. “He went absolutely fruit and nuts. The ball was called out at one point and he just couldn’t believe it. It’s insanity, let’s be honest here. You can cause yourself a serious injury by hitting your kneecap like he did. He was lucky just to draw blood.

“The good news is he didn’t injure himself, but he has to change that behaviour. He is so desperate to win and doesn’t find a balance out there. His A-game is not good enough against someone who has more variety. He is trying to add the transition of coming forward and using the drop shot.

“He needs that to beat players like Alcaraz. If he doesn’t do that, he will be consistently in the top eight, but he won’t get to semi-finals, finals or win majors,"

Rublev ended up losing the match to Alcaraz in straight sets with a score of 7-5, 6-2. His next opponent in the competition will be Germany’s Alexander Zverev.