By Jürgen Fritz, Mon. 08 Mar 2021, Cover photo: ATP Tennis TV screenshot

Seventh tournament win since 2020. No other player on the planet has won as many ATP titles since then as Andrey Rublev. The 23-year-old Russian has reached ten singles finals in his career so far, winning eight of them – all of the last seven. After his win in Rotterdam, he rises from 5 to 3 in the ATP Race to Turin. And his match record against top ten players is the fifth best in the last 24 months.

More tournament wins than anyone else since 2020

No other player on the planet has won as many ATP tournaments as Andrey Rublev since 2020. Two E tournament wins in Doha and Adelaide (ATP 250) last January were followed by no less than three victories in D tournaments (ATP 500) from September onwards after the 25-week pandemic break between March and August. First, Russia’s No. 2 won in Hamburg on clay with a final match victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas. In October, Rublev then also won in St. Petersburg and on 1 November the 500 tournament in Vienna, including a quarter-final victory over Dominic Thiem. Since then, the young Russian has been among the top 8 in the world and he is establishing himself there more and more.

Because Andrey Rublev continues in exactly the same way in 2021. At the beginning of February, together with Daniil Medvedev, the Russian No. 1, he won the ATP Cup in Melbourne as the No. 2 player of his country, winning all four singles he played. And so now Rublev wins his seventh tournament in Rotterdam since the beginning of 2020, six in singles plus the ATP Cup. And the last four of the six singles tournament wins were all at ATP 500 tournaments (D).

Tournament wins of the top ten players since 2020 including the ATP Cup (T) as a team

1. Andrey Rublev: 7 (EEDDDTD)
2. Novak Djokovic: 6 (TADCCA)
3. Daniil Medvedev: 3 (CBT)
4. Rafael Nadal: 2 (DA)
5. Alexander Zverev: 2 (EE)
6. Dominic Thiem: 1 (A)
7. Stefano Tsitsipas: 1 (E)
8. Diego Schwartzman: 1 (E)
9. Roger Federer: 0
10. Matteo Berrittini: 0

Rublev won eight of his ten finals, all of the last seven

In Rotterdam, Rublev beat Andy Murray 7-5, 6-2 in the round of 16, who could only keep up until 5-5 in the first set, but then had no chance in the second. In the semi-finals, the sixth-ranked player in the world, Stefanos Tsitsipas, lost 6:3, 7:6, just like in the final in Hamburg. In the final against the strong Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, Rublev did not drop a set and won 7:6, 6:4 after 1:50 hours.

One thing stands out: The 23-year-old has reached 10 finals at ATP tournaments in singles so far and won 8 of them. His final match record is therefore: 8-2. That is a sensational win rate of 80 percent. The last final he lost was in July 2019 in Hamburg against Nikoloz Basilashvili. Rublev has won all of the last seven finals. The seventh was yesterday’s final in Rotterdam.

The new king of C tournaments

And this victory was also his twentieth in a row in D tournaments (ATP 500). Since 2009, only Roger Federer (28) and Andy Murray (21) have compiled longer winning streaks at ATP 500 tournaments.

1. Roger Federer: 28 in 2014 – 2016
2. Andy Murray: 21 in 2016 – 2017
3. Andrey Rublev: 20 until now since 2020

“I was not even thinking [about the streak] until [the media] were starting to put on the internet 16 matches, 17 matches, 18 matches,” said the sympathetic Russian. “Of course, it is a great number, but I was not even thinking about it… It is a great feeling to know that I did something that not many players did.”

In ATP Race to Turin, Rublev rises from 5 to 3

In the pandemic-modified ATP Ranking, which Novak Djokovic now leads for the 311st week, breaking Roger Federer’s record of 310, Rublev remains in 8th position after his Rotterdam victory. In the ATP Race, however, in which only the points of the current season are counted, Rublev rises from 5 to 3:

1. Novak Djokovic: 2140
2. Daniil Medvedev: 1700
3. Andrey Rublev: 1170
4. Stefanos Tsitsipas: 1015
5. Aslan Karatsev: 745
6. Matteo Berrettini: 495
7. Diego Schwartzman: 460
8. Alexander Zverev: 425
9. Márton Fucsovics: 420
10. Alexander Bublik: 410

The fifth-best match record against top ten players

Just how strong Rublev has become can be seen from his match-record against top ten players. Andrey sometimes thinks he is the worst in the top ten and the ATP ranking also shows him as third last among the top ten. But his match record against top ten players says something different.

In the last two years, since March 2019, he has met one of the top ten in the ATP ranking 18 times. His record: 9-9, so even. Rublev won 50 per cent of his matches against top ten players in the last 24 months. That is a good value. For comparison, here is the match record of the nine others against top ten players:

1. Novak Djokovic: 20-9 (winning percentage: 69 %)
2. Daniil Medvedev: 20-10 (67 %)
3. Dominic Thiem: 17-10 (63 %)
4. Rafael Nadal: 12-10 (55 %)
5. Andrey Rublev: 9-9 (50 %)
6. Matteo Berrittini: 7-7 (50 %)
7. Roger Federer: 7-8 (47 %)
8. Stefanos Tsitsipas: 11-13 (46 %)
9. Alexander Zverev: 6-16 (27 %)
10. Diego Schwartzman: 5-17 (23 %)

Rublev could face Thiem and Federer in Doha this week

This week it’s already going on for Rublev. At the D tournament in Doha, he is seeded third and could meet Stan Wawrinka or Marton Fucsovics again in the quarter-finals. Dominic Thiem could then be waiting in the semi-finals and Roger Federer, who is returning to the Tour after a 13-month break, in the final.

Possible quarter-finals in Doha (ATP 250)

• Thiem – Bautista Agut
• Rublev – Wawrinka or Fucsovics
• Goffin or Fritz – Shapovalov
•  Basilashvili – Federer

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