Andrey Rublev produced one of the performances of the season to surge to the title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, ending Jiri Vesely’s dream run in the desert with a 6-3, 6-4.
Rublev is enjoying a very good month of tennis and it continued with the triumph in Dubai. The 80-minute victory made it 13 matches won in a row for Rublev across singles and doubles after the Russian won both titles in Marseille before his run in Dubai.
The Russian was delighted with the win saying after the match:
I feel super happy even though I am tired. I was lucky today, and that’s why I am happy to be the champion."
He also touchedu pon that he felt no pressure coming to DUbai and that made a difference:
“I came here without any expectation. I was thinking, even if I'm going to win at least one round, it's going to be something like a miracle. I was a bit in this kind of mood. I was not thinking [about] if there is a player that I don't want to face.”
Rublev also admitted that he has been working on his mental game a lot and he thinks it's showing while admitting he needs to do more:
"I think it will come, I will have chances to go deep in Masters or Grand Slams. Even last year I [made] two [Masters] finals, I had quarter-finals at Grand Slams, [but] I didn't manage it mentally and that's why I couldn't win those matches “There is no secret about the mental part and how to improve. Everybody has said these things a thousand times. All the best athletes in history, all the best philosophers, all of them, they've said many times..it's about you.”