Andrey Rublev plays his tennis the way he plays his chess - attacking

The Russian has been one of the hottest players not just this year but also last year and all of that comes from an aggressive approach to the game of tennis.

The Russian won the last four ATP 500 events he attended and currently he is preparing to attend another one this week. The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is a premier event with some of the best in the world attending and it will be a tough task for Rublev to win this one as well. Speaking about his approach to the game ahead of the event he compared it to chess, another game he deeply enjoys:

“Chess can help tennis, maybe strategy-wise. It gives you more patience, but I play chess like I play tennis. I try and take a Queen, or a forehand in tennis, and dictate. I prepare to attack.”

He played in Dubai last year as well reaching the quarterfinals and while he hopes he can improve on that result he knows it will be tricky because of the conditions. Speaking about that he said:

“It’s always tough conditions to play here as the balls fly and it doesn’t suit my game style. It will be a great challenge for me, as I will need to find other ways to play matches.”

For the Russian, the recent results are not a surprise as he has always worked hard. But it was hard for him to pinpoint what exactly worked differently than before. He simply said:

“I feel like I am doing some things better than last year… I’ve always worked hard, it’s been a long journey of improvement. No one has ever told me to work or [needed] to motivate me. I was always doing things at 100 percent and enjoying it."

Rublev is the 2nd seed in Dubai only behind Dominic Thiem and he will look to continue his stellar run of 20 consecutive match victories at ATP 500 events.