Kafelnikov lauds praise on Rublev: "He belongs in at least the Top 20 for sure"

Former World No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov has discussed Andrey Rublev's start to 2020 which has seen him claim two titles.

Kafelnikov said that from his perspective he is showing signs of a player that belongs in the top 20 in the world and that focusing on his condition is definitely helping.

He also added that he has eradicated a tendency to be defeated by players behind on the rankings but that has changed.

“Coming back in that match against Felix showed me something; that he’s getting mature and he values pretty much every match that he steps on the court for right now,” Kafelnikov said. “That’s a good sign of the player that belongs in at least the Top 20 for sure.”

“Andrey and his camp obviously understand now that you need to take care of the body first to be able to compete on such a top level. I think they’ve done that. He’s gotten healthier right now and mainly he’s focussing on his physical condition, which is going to help him to play consistently throughout the season,” Kafelnikov added.

“That’s absolutely showing me that he’s stepping up a level compared to what he was in 2018 or 2019 even.”

“His confidence level rose unbelievably high. Before we have seen in the past that Andrey was not such a player where he was most of the time beating the players who he should have beaten,”

But this year he has proven that his level has risen to the point where we aren’t seeing him losing to the guys who he is not supposed to lose to. That’s a good sign, and he believes that he has the level where he doesn’t need to play 100 per cent to beat the guys that he should beat. I think that’s important.”

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