Normally chants of a player’s name erupting around a tennis venue from the crowd are nothing out of the ordinary but for Andrey Rublev, it means a lot.
The world No.7 was cheered on throughout his roller-coaster win over Holger Rune at the Monte Carlo Masters on Sunday where he won the biggest title of his career to date. The 25-year-old bounced back from a set down and a 1-4 deficit in the decider to prevail 5-7, 6-2, 7-5. Becoming the first man from his country to triumph at the tournament since Andrei Chesnokov in 1990.
Whilst Rublev is a well-known figure on the men’s Tour who has been consistently ranked inside the world’s top 10 since October 2020, he describes his level of support received from fans as ‘out of space’ due to the current political situation. Russia, which is where Rublev is from, launched a military offensive on Ukraine more than 14 months ago which resulted in international condemnation. Players such as him are now only allowed to compete as neutral athletes on the Tour and they were banned from Wimbledon last year. The same penalty has been implemented on the Belarussian players whose government are accused of supporting the war.
“I’m very grateful because it is so difficult to get support, especially being from the country where I am from in a situation at the moment where I am. It’s double difficult,” Rublev told The Tennis Channel.
“Just to get support from the crowd is really difficult. In these conditions, it is doubly difficult. To get this support is out of space.”
Rublev was one of the first Russian athletes to publicly call for peace in the region. Just days after the conflict began on February 24th 2022, he wrote the message ‘no war please’ on a camera lens following his match at the Dubai Tennis Championships. Then at the ATP Finals last November he wrote ‘peace, peace, peace, all we need.”
“You cannot act like nothing happened because it’s horrible,” Rublev said during a press conference in March.
“Like I was saying all the time, it’s crazy that so many just normal citizens suffering, dying. It’s not easy that it’s happening in our time when we have all the mobile phones, internet, social media.
“The only thing I hope that soon is going to be peace in every country. Doesn’t matter where. I hope is going to be peace in our countries.”
Tensions are still high in the sport, particularly on the WTA Tour which has been accused by some Ukrainian players of not doing enough to support them. An allegation the governing body disputes. Recently Petra Kvitova said she backed calls to ban Russia from the Olympics and Barbora Krejcikova says she is ‘avoiding’ some Russian players who she has accused of fueling tensions in the locker room.
Meanwhile, The All England Lawn Tennis Club confirmed earlier this month that their ban on Russian and Belarussian players taking part will be lifted this year.
Rublev is one of three Russian men currently ranked in the world’s top 20 along with Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov.
