ROLEX SHANGHAI MASTERS

October 14, 2023

Andrey Rublev

Press Conference

A. RUBLEV/G. Dimitrov

7-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Just a few questions, please.

Q. Congratulations. You're very expressive on the court, if you're not happy about something, you let it out. How does that help you? Is that like that release, is that something you need?

ANDREY RUBLEV: No, not at all. Opposite. It's not helping me at all. I'm trying to take it away, you know, to don't do those things, because it's not helping me, and it looks really ugly.

But, yeah, some matches it's a bit easier, and some matches like today when you feel more stress, unfortunately, more pressure, like semifinal, you want to win, and you have more emotions, so it's tougher to control. Sometimes it's happy, some things like happen today that is really not nice to see, but I'm working, and I'm trying to take them away.

Q. Congratulations. You had to work hard for that victory. It was sort of the toughest match that you had had all tournament. Does that make it more special for you?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I mean, in general, to be in the final is always special, doesn't matter which tournament, when you're in the final, it's always special feeling. Doesn't matter if you had straight sets match or super tough, three sets battle, it's just, to be in the final, it's always special.

Trust me, sometimes you want to be in a final with the less effort as possible to be more fresh, so, but, yeah, the feeling to just to be in the final, it's always special, doesn't matter the matches you did before, you know.

Q. What did you guys say to each other after your match, and how have you guys become such good friends?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I mean, I think after the match I told him that I'm really sorry about the match, and I'm really sorry for what happened on the tiebreak. But, to be honest, I don't remember what I said. For sure, I said something like, Thank you so much, and I'm really sorry for the match. I think so, because it was emotional, you know, it was just after the match, so I don't really remember.

How we became? I don't know, we played couple of matches. I always, when I was a junior, I like the style of the game that he had. I like a lot his forehand.

Then I started to be, to play more pro tournaments, I start to see him. We play a couple of matches, we start to practice, somewhere we spend time together on some exhibition tournaments, and little by little, like this, you know, nothing special.

Q. Can you talk about several attempts of your break points, you won it every time. Is that your tactics? Break points.

ANDREY RUBLEV: What break points?

Q. You win every time in the break point.

ANDREY RUBLEV: No, I lost my serve on second set. (Laughing). And that 6-5, as well.

Q. Breaking serve? Are there any tactics to win this one?

ANDREY RUBLEV: To win this one what?

Q. Any tactics for you to win the tiebreak.

ANDREY RUBLEV: No, there were no tactics. I mean, it was equal match, and he had chances to win, I had chances to win, and in the end I was a bit more lucky. It was 7-7, 6-All, 7-7, 8-7, and then we had super long rally and he missed a little bit out. Maybe the next tiebreak, the previous tiebreaks he won, on the previous matches. So, my last tiebreak was match I lost, so tiebreak, you never know.

Q. Can you talk us through the final tomorrow, what are your thoughts ahead of that?

ANDREY RUBLEV: My thoughts, to be honest, not yet there, because I just finished the match, and I want to try to take as much time to recover for tomorrow.

Hubi is so tough player. He's really tough to play against. He have good strokes from baseline. He have good feeling. He moves well, really well, especially for his height. He really have good defense game. The serve, one of the best serves on tour, that is making him really, really tough player that you need to be all the time super focused.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

ANDREY RUBLEV: Thank you.