Rublev battles self-doubt ahead of the 2021 Miami Open

Although he may be the hottest player on the ATP tour right now, Andrey Rublev still believes he has much to learn ahead of the 2021 Miami Open, which kicks off today.

The Russian is seeded fourth at the event, and has amassed a 16-3 record this year. Despite helping Team Russia triumph at the ATP Cup and claiming the Rotterdam title, the 23-year old still has moments where he believes that his success has been due to luck.

“I want to be better and better. It’s not about what I’m doing now or what I did. It’s about that I want to keep doing this for a long term. I want to keep being better,” Rublev said in a recent interview with ATPTour.com. “I’m afraid that I’m just maybe lucky, that maybe I’m not good enough. So that’s why I want to keep working to be able to see if I can keep playing the same way, on the same level for a while.”

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The eight-time ATP titlist has acquired a 57-13 record since the beginning of the 2020 season, winning six singles titles during that time. Luck has had little to do with his success, yet the Russian harbors fears that he's not good enough.

“It’s this kind of fear that it’s not enough,” Rublev said. “Fear that I’m not going to make it or fear that I’m not going to be good enough for a while. In the end, this fear helped me to improve, and that’s why I want to improve and improve. Also maybe because… if I do one mistake, I want to repeat to make it perfect. I need to have everything perfect. This is a bit of a sick mentality, but in the end, for the moment, it has helped me.”

The World No.8 will begin his Miami conquest against either Tennys Sandgren or Pedro Martinez, as he has a first-round bye.

Click here for live scores and results for the Miami Open.