"I came to the tournament as an alternate because I forgot to enter": Andrey Rublev asked for most memorable match after Alcaraz milestone

Andrey Rublev is through to the semi-finals of the 2024 Madrid Open after dismissing Carlos Alcaraz in a rampant win from the Russian ace. He won through 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a week that saw him snap a losing streak of six weeks.

Rublev hadn't won since his Dubai line judge default drama which he admitted affected him, but he is not resting on his laurels after hitting form this week. Next is Taylor Fritz or Francisco Cerundolo.

“I don’t know man. I don’t know what to say.. maybe this week is a relief but then next week we go back to the same.. so better not to think this way because when you start to think ‘Oh how good everything is’ that’s what happened at the beginning of the season. Then for 6 weeks I wasn’t winning anything. It’s better to not think at all. It’s not bad, it’s not good. It’s just a moment. It happens to everyone, every player has been through these moments. The most important thing is to keep working and improving & then remember that one week can change anything," said Rublev post match.

Now he holds a win over every single top 10 player currently, he was quizzed who was the hardest. “I don’t know. Depends on the moment and the age of my career because every moment I was going through something different… I think the most memorable one was maybe Roger & Rafa. I think maybe Roger because it was one of my first ones. I didn’t expect it. I came to the tournament as an alternate because I forgot to enter. I went to sign up for qualifying just to see if I’d get in or not. Everyone told me no chance because it’s a super strong tournament. I was one of the last ones that got in. With one racquet, I passed qualies. The racquet was half broken. I beat Wawrinka and Roger and reached the QF from qualies. It was something like a fairytale week for me.