Andrey Rublev will have to wait until 2021 to represent Russia in Tokyo after coronavirus forced the International Olympic Committee to postpone the Olympic Games until 2021.
Rublev said that he was prepared to the prospect to wait another year and there was no alternative solution, but he expressed his disappointment when he heard the news.
“It was hard to accept the news about the Olympic Games because I always want to participate in such an event. I have never been at the Olympic Games before and this would have been my first experience there. Of course I was upset but we can’t do anything about that. The situation is not looking good but everyone is trying to stay positive. The Olympcs were postponed only only to the next year and that time should pass quickly, let’s hope for the best”, said Rublev.
The 22-year-old Moscow native player enjoyed a solid second half of the 2019 season in which he finished runner-up to Nikoloz Basilashvili in the Hamburg final. He went on to beat Roger Federer en route to reaching the quarter final in Cincinnati before qualifying for the fourth round at the US Open. Rublev won the Kremlin Cup title in Moscow in front of his home fans on his 22nd birthday and capped last season with four wins for Russia at the Davis Cups Finals at the Davis Cup in Madrid. He earned career-high 38 wins and reached his career-high number 22 in the ATP Ranking on 21st October 2019.
Rublev won two consecutive ATP titles in Doha and Adelaide becoming the first player since 2004 to win two back-to-back tournaments in the first two weeks of the year. He broke into top 20 on 13th January, joining Danil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov as first Russian trio in top 20 since Marat Safin, Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny in March 2005.
Rublev lost to Alexander Zverev in the fourth round at last January’s Australian Open. Last February Rublev reaching two quarter finals in Rotterdam and in Dubai losing to Filip Krajinovic and Daniel Evans respectively.
