Andrey Rublev: Only Novak Djokovic victorious more often in 2020
Andrey Rublev has already celebrated his fourth title of the season with his triumph at the ATP 500 event in St. Petersburg - and is only behind Novak Djokovic in terms of victories in the 2020 calendar year.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Oct 19, 2020, 10:14 am
Andrey Rublev couldn't have turned his match ball at the ATP 500 event in St. Petersburg much more appropriately. Backhand shot longline, forehand shot, forehand shot, forehand drive volleyball - and finally Borna Coric's resistance was broken: The young Russian, he is known for seeking his salvation on the offensive, targeting his opponents with his powerful forehand wear down.
Despite all the attractiveness of this style of play, such a play system is usually associated with a high level of risk. Players like Rublev tend to make life difficult for themselves with too many mistakes on bad days. A circumstance that haunted the Russian for a long time, despite some respectable successes in the last two seasons, the 22-year-old was unable to display the great consistency over one season.
Only behind Djokovic
That seems to have changed in the special 2020 season, Rublev has 34 wins this season - and that with just seven defeats. That is as many as there is otherwise in the entire ATP traveling circus. Only the industry leader Novak Djokovic has a nose in front of the young Russian when it comes to individual victories. If you look at the title balance, Rublev has even drawn level with the Serb, although Djokovic can of course look back on the much larger title wins.
This is not only reflected in the world rankings, where Rublev will reach his career high on Monday in eighth place, the 22-year-old is also in a place in the Race to London for the Nitto ATP Finals, which will qualify him for the end of the season best eight players of the season. There it could also show how Rublev can assert himself against the absolute world-class players, as he was only able to eliminate two top 10 players in his numerous title runs in 2020.