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ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

January 16, 2020

Andrey Rublev

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

A. RUBLEV/D. Evans

6-4, 3-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How did you sleep last night?
ANDREY RUBLEV: Last night I sleep well (smiling).

Q. Good. How many hours?
ANDREY RUBLEV: Yeah, a lot. Around 10, yeah, 10 1/2, something like that.

Q. You feel okay now?
ANDREY RUBLEV: Yeah, I feel better.

Q. You said on court after the game against Dan Evans that the game had called for a lot of patience on your part. Do you enjoy those games where you have to think a bit more and it's more strategic than playing against a big hitter, a big server?
ANDREY RUBLEV: I mean, yeah, it's completely different tennis. Players like Danny or big server -- I mean, I don't know. It depends.

I know that for example with guys like Danny, that it's more depends on me. It's how I will behave, how I will fight, how I will feel the ball.

The guys like Danny, I need to have a lot of patience with them because he's so great player, he have amazing touch, he defends well, he play long rallies, you need to have patience.

I mean, for people, for sure, I think they enjoy more watch these kind of matches, because it's more real tennis. It's tactic, it's mental, it's how you play smart. It's how you start the point, long rallies. And you have to have patience, physical and the mental part to play these kind of matches.

And sometimes with the guys like who serve big, you can play really bad and still you can win because maybe you make one lucky return in important moment and you broke them. And can happen opposite. You can play amazing against them, but because they make amazing serve and they hit good winner in important moment, they win the match.

For sure I think people enjoy more watching matches guys like Evans, guys like De Minaur who play long rallies, they fight every ball, you enjoy long rallies, different, I don't know, rhythm of the ball, and I think people they enjoy more this.

Q. You have a Spanish coach, right?
ANDREY RUBLEV: Yeah.

Q. Do you speak any Spanish?
ANDREY RUBLEV: No.

Q. I'm curious, having a Spanish coach and usually the Spanish way of playing involves a lot of grinding, a lot of that. Is that where you're trying to learn patience from?
ANDREY RUBLEV: No, I think -- I mean, I know that this is -- when everybody hears Spanish coach or Spanish tennis, everybody start to think it's overspinning, it's defense shots, it's going only around forehand.

But no, in my situation, it's not like this. They know my style of the game is completely different. So they try to improve my style of the game, and they don't try to tell me, no, I have to go three meters behind and start to play, like, I don't know -- like, I never even know how to play, no.

Q. We don't know who you're playing yet. Can you talk separately about Bolt and Felix, please?
ANDREY RUBLEV: I play with both of them, and I know both of them are really tough. I mean, here at ATP you don't have easy opponents. Everyone have special things that he's doing well. Everybody is top.

Felix, we know how he play great, that he's upcoming great player. He win -- I think he won a title, no?

Q. Felix?
ANDREY RUBLEV: Felix. For sure he was in the final. For sure he was in the final. I don't know. He was playing so many tournaments really great. He was beating so many good players.

And I know Bolt also since sometime even since juniors, and he was always dangerous. He was always, you know, these kind of players that you don't want to meet in a draw because you know that he can win great matches, and he can beat tough opponents.

So we'll see what's gonna happen. I know both of them. I play with both of them, so we'll see how it's gonna be tomorrow.

Q. You obviously made it deep into this week. Australian Open is on Monday. Any drawbacks of playing the week before a slam? Do you see advantages doing that? Because maybe your mind is not too focused on Australian?
ANDREY RUBLEV: To be honest, I don't like to one week before Grand Slam, but here is different situation. It's beginning of the season, you need to feel rhythm again, need to feel matches. For me, I like to play -- when I don't play for a while, I like to play more matches.

And especially here is conditions the same as in Melbourne. Anyway, for example, Doha was completely different conditions compared to here. Even though, I would say, I would play only Doha and I would go Melbourne, would not be the same. It's different air, is different climate, different surface.

And first round will be tough, is gonna be, you know, a little bit more, I think, is not going to be the same.

Here, Adelaide is almost the same conditions, almost the same surface. And when I will even go to Melbourne, I don't think that I will have big problems, so feeling the balls or court.

But normally I'm trying to don't play one week before Grand Slams.

Q. We have heard today that Alex de Minaur has withdrawn from the Australian Open. He got an abdominal injury during the ATP Cup.
ANDREY RUBLEV: I didn't know this.

Q. About two hours ago, I think. We saw you in the Davis Cup in the semifinals in November. You clearly enjoyed it, but clearly that's hugely emotionally demanding. What sort of toll does a tournament like the ATP Cup or Davis Cup take on you as a player? And how long does it take you to recover...
ANDREY RUBLEV: Sorry, I didn't understand second part of the question. Davis Cup?

Q. Once you have played the Davis Cup, because it's so emotionally demanding...
ANDREY RUBLEV: Why did I play?

Q. When you played, it was full of emotion. How difficult is it for you to recover, to get back to normal after playing in such an emotional environment, such intense situation?
ANDREY RUBLEV: No, yeah, it's true. Davis Cup was emotional, like you said, and we enjoy a lot these feelings.

But, no, I feel -- I don't know. I didn't even need to recover. I was feeling pumped. I was feeling great. I was saying even to my team, coaches, they know this, I didn't want to finish the season. I wanted to keep going because I was feeling good. I was feeling at my best moment.

I feel that finally I come back, I feel that I can compete with good players. So I was, you know, I was only, like, even more pumped to play more.

And it's like preseason, you know. So I was a little bit, like, upset. And now I'm happy that I'm back.

So in the end, in my situation was not, you know, something that I need to recover or -- maybe, yeah, you talk someone else.

Q. No, I understand. You didn't want the season to end?
ANDREY RUBLEV: No.

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