"It's not about my match" - Rublev voices support for peace after Ukraine war

Russia’s Andrey Rublev voiced his support for peace after reaching the semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

The second seed took to Instagram prior to his match against American Mackenzie McDonald to post images of friendship with Ukraine following Russia’s wide-ranging attack on the country. After recovering from a poor start to claim a 2-6 6-3 6-1 victory, Rublev said:

“In these moments you realise that my match is not important. It’s not about my match, how it affects me. What’s happening is much more terrible. You realise how important it is to have peace in the world and to respect each other no matter what, to be united. We should take care of our earth and of each other. This is the most important thing.”

Rublev admitted that he gets abuse from fans due to his natioanlity:

“Of course I get some bad comments on the Internet because I am Russian, so I get some aggressive comments. I cannot react on them because if I react on them, I’m going to show the same. If I want to have peace, I need to be like it doesn’t matter. Even if they throw rocks to me, I need to show I’m for the peace, I’m not here to be aggressive or something, even if I’m not responsible for something. I think this is the right way to do it, at least for me.”