“This is the first time in my life that I feel this bad”: Andrey Rublev reveals plans of going to hospital on Monday despite winning Madrid Open

Russia’s tennis star Andrey Rublev has revealed that he had to go to the hospital despite winning the Madrid Open. The 26-year-old won the ATP 1000 Masters in the Spanish capital after beating Canada’s Felix Auger Aliassime with a score of 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Rublev was quoted in a report revealing that he had not been well for a while and had to put an anaesthetic to play in the final. “I’m still sick and tomorrow I’ll go back to the hospital for a full check-up to know exactly what’s going on,” he said. “I’ve been sick for eight or nine days now, it’s not normal, I’m not really getting better, which is strange because usually I get sick for two or three days at the most and maybe a fever, but nothing special. This is the first time in my life that I feel this bad.”

“They put an anaesthetic in the (toe) on my foot because somehow it got inflamed and started to get bigger and the pressure started to be on the bone and I can’t even put my shoe. The feeling was similar to when you broke it, so they put an anaesthetic so I me to don’t feel it and at least I could play without thinking. It was an incredible match, Felix deserved (in) the same way as me to win today and we showed a great battle together, the most important thing was that the people enjoyed it. Our sport is like this, we cannot have both winners.”