“I felt like I couldn’t control myself anymore” – Rublev reflects on his on-court outbursts

After struggling on the mental and emotional side of his game for some time, Andrey Rublev seems to have found the solution to his on-court problems and is ready to put the difficult times on court behind him.

Rublev put in an excellent performance to defeat Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals of Montreal, handing the Italian just his fifth loss of the season. After the match, Rublev, who has 16 Tour-level titles, looked back on all the negative thoughts that accompanied him for several months.

I HAD TO FIGHT DEPRESSION FOR SEVERAL YEARS. THIS SEASON, I FELT LIKE I COULDN’T CONTROL MYSELF ANYMORE AND I STARTED TO EXPLODE

Andrey Rublev, after his win over Jannik Sinner in Montreal

“I was able to beat Jannik today, it’s a very special moment for me because I was struggling for several months,” Rublev said after his win over the Italian.

“I think I needed to win a match like this to feel like I can still have good results, so I’m happy.

“I had to fight depression for several years. This season, I felt that I couldn’t control myself anymore and I started to explode,” he added.

“It’s happened more and more on the court, because in life I manage to stay calm. On the other hand, when I was on the pitch, I burned everything, so in the end, you could say that I was suffering.

“For a few months now, I’ve been feeling better, and all of a sudden I’ve noticed it, and I’m playing better tennis.”

After a series of tournaments where the Russian failed to string together victories, Rublev finally found his way back to consistency, winning the Madrid Masters in May, defeating Carlos Alcaraz on his way to the title.

Back in February, the world No 8 was disqualified against Alexander Bublik in Dubai for yelling at a line judge, something which triggered a poor run of form.

In order to achieve success in the hard-court swing, Rublev will have to retain this newfound calm and serenity over the next few weeks.

At the US Open, he will again try to break his Grand Slam barrier, namely by trying to get past the quarter-finals of a major for the first time in his career after 10 failures in 10 previous attempts.

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