The Russian is set to make his Madrid Open debut after missing the event in the previous three years due to injuries and the pandemic.
It has been another superb season for Andrey Rublev so far and while he lost in the Monte-Carlo Masters final he is playing really well on clay. If you add that to the fact that this will be his Madrid Open debut it makes for quite a storyline. He missed the three previous events due to the pandemic and injuries which he mentioned ahead of his match:
“When my ranking became [high enough] and I was around 30 in the world, I was injured twice, two seasons in a row, during the summer which is the clay-court season. And then last year was pandemic."
For Rublev playing consistent tennis is important as it helps him achieve a better ranking which is one of his goals. Speaking of other goals he shared his relief that he is in Madrid finally underlining his intention to play the whole year through:
"So unlucky three seasons already, and now finally I’m here. I’m feeling like hopefully, it’s going to be my first year when I play the whole season, non-stop, all the tournaments.”
The Russian plays against Tommy Paul in the first round and you can follow the score of that match on our live scores page here.