QATAR EXXONMOBIL OPEN

February 20, 2023

Andrey Rublev

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to Doha. How do you feel coming back to Doha?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I feel great. I love this place. I have such great memories. I will see what's gonna happen. I'm happy to be back. I'm just enjoying myself for the moment in amazing hotel, in amazing facilities, the tennis club. We will see how everything is gonna be.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I still remember 2018 when you came here and reached the final. It was the World Cup, and Russia, you were very proud of that, if you remember about football. Later on in 2020, you got the title. Does it mean you have more responsibility now? Will you come back again to Qatar, that you are well known and you have the title already, and there is an expectation from the fans?

ANDREY RUBLEV: To be honest, I don't know. I don't feel that way. I feel that I have great memories here that, yeah, I won a title, I won a title in doubles, I was in the final, semifinal, and I feel that it was great moments.

Now when I'm coming here, I feel that, yeah, I have these great moments but these are past. Like when I come here, I don't feel, Oh, this is the tournament I win already, how I'm gonna do this year.

I feel it's just like a new tournament, you know. And if you look back, of course, was great memories, but I feel like it's a new tournament, because I will have to play every week, and it happen often to me that I was winning a title and then next year I was losing first round, and next year again first round or something.

Then I win completely another tournament that I never win before, even a match there. And you never know, if of course if it was that easy, like, okay, I book this week to win it always, okay, but it doesn't work like this.

Maybe I'm gonna lose first round, and then I win the next tournament, or opposite. Maybe I will do really good here and then I lose first round next one. You cannot control those things.

Q. You have made three finals here, as you said. What do you think is so special about this court that makes you play so well?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I don't know. I lost here also once very early (smiling). I don't know. And the last time that I played here, I was in semifinal, but I did not play a match. I was first-round bye, then was walkover, walkover, and I was in the semis.

So the last time that I played here I lost basically my first match. It was semis, but it was my first match (smiling).

So we'll see. I mean, the conditions are good here. I don't know. When I used to play here it was the first week of the year. So there was no wind. The weather was super perfect.

Now, this time it's a lot of wind, so it's really tough to play, the level become more equal, because you cannot shoot the same way, you cannot serve the same way, you cannot play the same way like normally you're playing because of the wind.

You need to somehow just make the ball in, and that's why conditions become for everyone is the same. That's why, from one point of view, it's even tougher. Especially for the players who normally on paper that they are stronger, it's even tougher.

So we'll see. We'll see what's gonna happen. I have tough first match that I will play. I'm waiting for the guys to play tomorrow, and it's gonna be tough match. So we'll see. Hopefully I can show great tennis, and that's it.

Q. How do you rate your start of the season?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I don't know, to be honest. For the moment on ATP tournaments, I didn't do well. In the beginning of the season I lost first two rounds, but I had tough draws. I lost to two good players three-sets matches that were so close, and then I did really well in Australia. Last week I did first round.

So we'll see. For the moment, looks like on ATP Tour not that good, but in the slam for a moment I did well.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about this line of clothes you started with, Rublo? How did it come through?

ANDREY RUBLEV: Basically something that I was thinking for a while. Then I have a really good connection with Nike. We are really close together, and I just asked if I can take one year of break for me to try to do something.

For the moment, they allowed me without losing, how you say, our relationship to work, let's say, in the future or something.

That's it. So now hopefully for Roland Garros is gonna be a first big and really good project, and we'll see after this what's gonna happen.

Q. Next week Novak Djokovic will be the only holder of the record of No. 1 weeks. What does that mean to you?

ANDREY RUBLEV: To me? I don't know. That basically everything is possible, and that at the age of 35 he still can be the best player of the world and break records. If you do the things right, you can perform on the highest level. Doesn't matter the age. Basically that's what it means to me.

Q. In this week or in this month, there are many ATP tournaments around the world, so different ways to get to U.S. for Indian Wells and Miami. Obviously you chose to come to the Middle East. But when you make that kind of decision of schedule, what do you think is the most important thing? How do you make that kind of decision?

ANDREY RUBLEV: First of all, I talk with my team. Normally we decide from there. Like let's say to go to South America to play on clay when you need to go back Indian Wells to play on the hard, I don't know, it's a bit tougher. Like to spend there one month, even you lose first round, you are not going to come back. You will stay there, waiting for the next tournament and next tournament.

Then it's, I don't know, it's more for the players who like only to play on clay, and they try to avoid tournaments indoor or stuff like that.

That's why, in my case, I stay in Europe, because if I lose, in case first round or something, I can go and practice, and then the closest tournaments is Doha, Dubai, because anyway, you have Dubai or Acapulco, that one of those you have to play.

Doha from Dubai is very close. So in the end it's more like this. What is like comfortable, then that's how we decide.

Q. You talked about the beginning of the season, but regarding the last season, what were the things you like about it, meaning about your game, and the things you maybe dislike?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I think in my case it's not about the game. First of all, the game you cannot control. You cannot control if you're gonna play this tournament on the highest level or you will feel not really good and you will not perform well.

You cannot control these things, because maybe you practice really good, you're doing everything right, and then you go on tournament and somehow you're not playing good tennis.

And then maybe you are not doing nothing or not practicing in a good way. Then you go on tournament and somehow you're playing really good tennis, and you cannot control those things.

So in my case, it's not about tennis. In my case it's more about probably some emotional part and the things I'm doing outside the court. Because last year, there was many things that I did really good outside the court that helped me a lot, but still, I was doing a lot of bad things outside the court that was bringing me down or stuff like that.

And also, emotionally some matches I were able to control it better. Some matches I let emotions completely control myself, and I was losing matches because of that.

So there was a lot of up-and-downs in the last season. The main thing for this season, at least to manage to don't have that many downs. And if I have them, to try to have them less.

Q. Do you think this can be the season that you break into the top 4?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I don't know. If I will improve the things that I have to improve, obviously my game and results will be better. Basically the ranking as well.

Q. Interesting you mentioned about the Latin American swing. I know it's tricky because of the surfaces, but wouldn't you ever be interested of experiencing different tournaments, different crowds, different cultures?

ANDREY RUBLEV: No, of course. And me especially, I like clay courts, as well. I like to play on clay.

It's just there I think you need to prepare mentally to be for at least one month. Because if I lose there, let's say, one tournament first round, I cannot go back and practice. I have to stay there, and the practice is not the same because you're on tournament and you cannot really disconnect and prepare, you know, well for another tournament.

So you have to stay there, stay there, and then you wait till Acapulco and then Indian Wells, Miami, so you're not coming back from America till end of Miami. It's like almost two-and-a-half months, you know. It's too long.

Here, at least if I lost Rotterdam, then I had time to practice, to prepare, to disconnect a bit, and then I come here, you know. Mentally it's a bit easier.

Me, I would love to go there, because as I say, I like clay, plus I like Latin America, but it's just about, yeah, what is more comfortable and better will be better for the tennis, in my case.

You know, if I would be from America, for sure I will stay there because it's home. You lose there, you go home, I don't know, you see friends. But in my case, it's a bit different.