There was good news and bad news for Andrey Rublev on Tuesday at Wimbledon. The good news was that he felt prepared for his first quarter-final at The Championships. The bad news was that he faced seven-time champion Novak Djokovic.
Rublev won the first set, but Djokovic battled back for a four-set victory for a place in the semi-finals.
“I feel like he’s playing better and better comparing our matches. I think today I was, for the first time, ready enough to play [a] good match against him,” The previous matches mentally I was not ready at all. Even the match that I beat him in Serbia, I was just lucky. I don’t know, he was just not playing [well]. On top of that, he was tired in [the] end of the match. It’s not because of my game or something.”
Djokovic now leads Rublev 4-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, with two of those triumphs coming in major quarter-finals this year (they also met at the Australian Open). Djokovic converted five of his 12 break points, while Rublev managed to capitalise on only one of eight.
“I think today was the first time that I was ready to play, and I was there, and I had these little chances that in the end I didn’t make them. He made them,” Rublev said. “That’s why he’s the Novak, one of the greatest players in history.”
The seventh seed did not point to a groundstroke or tactic that the 23-time major winner used against him. Instead, he was impressed by Djokovic’s focus.
“These things [are] impressive, a lot. That’s why he’s the greatest player,” Rublev said. “In the end those moments are [what] count. [It] doesn’t matter how you hit. When you’re winning or when you’re losing, it matters in those moments. Those moments are the real tennis.”
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Despite the loss, Rublev is seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin as he tries to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year. The 25-year-old was eager to push even further and reach his first major semi-final (0-8 in quarter-finals), but he will hope to leave London with lessons learned to help him when he is next in such a position.
“Of course I was nervous. It’s normal when you go to play the player that never — I don’t know, not never — but didn’t lose for a long time. He’s on grass playing [the] best tennis ever,” Rublev said. “Of course you feel nervous because I have also ambitions. I want to go as deep as possible. Of course I was tight. But, like I said, I hope I realise one good thing, I hope I realise two and a half weeks ago one good thing. I hope that give me a little bit improvement in [the] mental part.
“We’ll see. We’ll see in the second part of the season if I really realise it or not.”