Rublev recalls unlikely entry into Cincinnati draw the year he beat Federer

The 2019 Cincinnati Masters was a big turning point in the career of tennis player Andrey Rublev. The Russian defeated then world No 3 Roger Federer in straight sets for the biggest win of his career before losing to countryman Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals.

But during the recent UTS All on the Table discussion, Rublev revealed how that win may never have happened because he almost didn’t make it to the tournament.

Ranked No 70 in the world, Rublev had forgotten to enter the tournament and as a result, he had to go try and sign-in as an alternate for the qualifying draw. However, he was playing doubles with Alexander Zverev in Montreal the same time that the qualies were starting, which put his participation in Cincinnati under serios doubt.

“If we would have won that doubles match, then I would not have been able to go and sign as an alternate,” the Russian said. “Everybody was telling me that there was no chance for alternates to get to play in Cincinnati because Cincinnati is always super strong and there would be no alternates. I checked the previous years and there were no alternates.”

“They were telling me to go all out in the doubles. In the end, we played our best but we lost anywaya. And I was like, no doubles, no singles. But I got in as an alternate, played qualies, came through and that year, I beat Roger.”

It did turn out to be a big week for the Russian as he beat Bernard Tomic (ranked 88) and Mikhail Kukushkin (ranked 46) in the qualifying draw. In the main draw, he defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili (ranked No 17), and Stan Wawrinka (ranked No 23) before scoring the big win over Federer.