"They are the top ones" says Rublev on Djokovic, Federer and Nadal

Out of these three players, only Djokovic has been performing on a top level recently with Nadal and especially Federer having a lot of issues with injuries. The Russian played in Abu Dhabi where he had the chance to observe Nadal play as well narrowly missing out on the opportunity to play against his idol. After the event Rublev amitted that for him they will always be top:

"They know they are the top ones. It doesn't matter if they don't play for a year and the rankings dropped. They know they are the top ones. For sure they are taking players like me seriously because we're improving and we are playing better and better."

Rublev's comments came after he was asked whether he considers himself a top player with the Russian humbly leaving that label for the big three. He further said:

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"Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas have proven they can beat top players. So they are taking them and hopefully myself seriously. But as I said, they know who the best is."

Rublev was then asked about Murray and he admitted that he did not play against Murray when the Brit was amongst the best in the world:

"I can only compare him to our match in Rotterdam earlier this year. He played much more aggressively, much faster, he served harder. There is a difference to our match in Rotterdam."

In the end, the score was the same with Rublev winning in two sets.