“I started to feel super dizzy”: Andrey Rublev admits surviving sugar crash during US Open second-round win

Russia’s Andrey Rublev had a difficult outing in the second round of the US Open where he came out on top against America’s Tristan Boyer. The final score of the match 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6. Rublev’s performance on the day was divided into two halves.

The first was where the 27-year-old was simply unplayable in the opening and second set. The second phase was far more challenging for Rublev, who nearly blew his two-set lead but managed to keep his nerve and won the tiebreak in the fourth set.

Rublev spoke to the media after the match, where he highlighted that he was struggling with low sugar, which made him feel ‘dizzy’. Rublev also admitted that he was ‘lucky’ to win the fourth-set tie break, that too at a time when Boyer was playing with more confidence.

“In the end I played well,” said Rublev. “The thing was, in general, was a lot, this match was up and downs. Tristan didn't start well. He was playing with a lot of mistakes. He was not putting first serve, was missing a lot of balls. So kind of the first two sets was quite easy. And then I relaxed completely and he started to play a bit better. And when I wanted to raise my level, I couldn't because the sugar in my body went down and I started to feel super dizzy in one moment. And in the end, it almost cost me a comeback of Tristan because then he started to feel it. He started to play even better and he ended up playing fourth set on a good level. And yeah, I was lucky that I was able to win that, that tiebreak because he was playing [with] more confidence. He was playing more aggressive and I was more kind of waiting instead of being the one who play more aggressive.”

Not much was helping: Rublev

Rublev then highlighted the turning point in the deciding set tiebreak and also stated the difficulty he faced while feeling dizzy on the court. Rublev said that first he was feeling dizzy and then he started to feel ‘super hungry’. Rublev revealed that he was served with some food on the court, including ‘sushi’, but nothing much helped him. He also admitted that it was the very first time that he felt ‘dizzy’ because of feeling hungry.

“In the end, on the tiebreak, I think that passing when I did backhand down the line at 3-2 out of nowhere, it kind of saved me a little bit and gave me also a bit of confidence that the rest of the tiebreak I played well,” said Rublev. “[Dizziness had] Nothing [to do] with the weather. I guess it's just I didn't eat enough before the match. And after one hour and a half, I started to feel super hungry. And when I start to, when I'm super hungry, if I try to keep focus or try to push myself, yeah, my sugar goes down and I start to feel dizzy in the head. They [organisers] brought me sushi in the fourth set. I eat sushi and I eat many things. I eat almost all my proteins, all my gels, but not much was helping. And I guess it takes time. I eat, I don't know how many, the record of bananas today. And now I have stomach like this, full of things. [It is the] first time ever in my life [that I felt dizzy because of having less food]. I mean, sometimes happen that you can be dizzy because of the weather or because of sickness or something. But being hungry, first time ever.

Rublev has been often being described from the generation of players who never managed to fulfill their potential. He is not the only one on the list. The likes of his countryman Daniil Medvedev, Germany’s Alexander Zverev and former world number three Dominic Thiem also features in that list. In the early stages of their respective careers, all these players were facing a challenge of competing against the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadan and Novak Djokovic. In the recent past, these players are now facing the challenge of playing against the likes of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

Rublev was asked about what he feels about having an uphill task all the time while competing against the best in the world. In response, Rublev stated that he still believes some of these players will go on to win big titles in the near future. “I don't know, still believing, still believing that also some of us will have chance to kind of also to achieve some things and keep fighting things,” said Rublev. “Tennis is getting older and older. So we still have 10 years, hopefully, minimum of the career. And, yeah, and we'll see what's going to happen. Everything can change very fast.”