"I wanted to destroy everything around me": Rublev shares frustration during Khachanov Monte-Carlo clash
ATP
Andrey Rublev saw off his compatriot and close friend, Karen Khachanov to reach the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters Quarter-Finals.
This despite admitting that he wasn't in a great head space mainly surrounding the on-court conditions and it mentally got to him in a 7-6(4), 6-2 victory.
"That we know each other too well. I mean, I think the first set was only mental. We didn't really show some tennis skills. I don't know. That was my thing. But also it was tough to show some skills because the win was really hard and the court is slippery and it was really, really tough to do something," said Rublev.
"The first one was super mental, at least for me. And then the feeling was that after I won the first set, I was a bit lucky that I was able to win. So it give me a bit advantage. And then as soon as I was able to win a set, the second set, I started to feel more free, and I felt that Karen started to feel more, a bit more down and that was the difference."
The frustration got to him that much that he said he felt destructive and that it was in a way the wake-up call he needed.
"I wanted to destroy everything around me. And then, in the end after the set when I was my sort of, I, I shoot a few times the racquet. But at that time, I felt like maybe I needed, I needed something to wake up and that was, and then I started to play a bit better. "
Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
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