In a negative spiral upon his arrival in Madrid, the Russian Andrey Rublev put his head back together until he won his second Masters 1000 title on Sunday, despite a “blocked throat” and an “anesthetized toe “, exactly three weeks before Roland-Garros.
On Spanish clay, it took him almost three hours to overthrow the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime, ex-top 10 today 35th, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the final.
It is already on this surface, in Monte-Carlo in 2023, that the 26-year-old Russian won the Masters 1000 title for the first time, the most prestigious tournament category after the Grand Slam.
With his Madrid coronation, Rublev will climb from eighth to sixth in the world on Monday, one place from his best ranking, reached in September 2021.
At 23, Auger-Aliassime played his very first Masters 1000 final.
In what state did Rublev go through the Spanish fortnight! “For nine days, it’s impossible to swallow, it’s impossible to eat and a huge headache. I don’t know exactly what it is, if it’s sore throat, a virus, but my throat is completely blocked. C “This is the first time I’ve felt so bad in my life,” described the Russian, who plans to “go to the hospital” on Monday.
“Filled with medicine”
And that’s not all: because of an “inflammation” which caused one of his toes to “double in size”, to the point of preventing him from “putting (his) foot in (his) shoe”, ” they anesthetized it for me, so that I wouldn’t feel it,” he said.
“I am full of medication”, “painkillers and injections”, he summarized.
Beyond his failing health, who could have imagined that Rublev would grab the trophy in the “Caja magica” in Madrid, even deprived of world No.1 Novak Djokovic and overtaken by a massacre (Sinner and Medvedev in particular) at the end of fortnight?
When he arrived in the Spanish capital, the rash Russian had four consecutive defeats. After his disqualification in Dubai at the beginning of March, for shouting his anger a few centimeters from a linesman’s face, he won a match (in Indian Wells), then nothing. Neither in Miami, nor in Monte-Carlo, where he was the title holder, nor in Barcelona.
But in his calm version, he surprised himself. And “it’s as if the last few weeks, the last tournaments had never existed,” said Rublev, notably defeating the two-time holder of the trophy and world No.3 Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-final – whose pre- painful right arm relapsed after his return tournament and who has already given up playing in Rome next week.
“FAA” back in the top 20
Against Auger-Aliassime on Sunday evening, Rublev was able to recover from a bad start to the match, which caused him to find himself trailing 4 games to 1 with a double break behind, and to lose the first set. Little by little, he then gained the upper hand over the young Quebecer in the game.
In the decisive set, the gap between the two players was obvious on the court, but it took time to materialize in the score. The credit for this goes to “FAA”, which has long kept itself afloat thanks to its powerful service. Even massaged his thighs twice, on the verge of cramps, which he attributed to fatigue inherited from an “intestinal virus” known mid-tournament.
It was precisely on a double fault that he finally broke down, on Rublev’s first match point.
Auger-Aliassime had made a place for the first time in the Masters 1000 final after a rare combination of circumstances: three of his previous six matches had not been completed (Sinner forfeited in the quarter-final and two withdrawals, from Mensik in the 3rd round and Lehecka in the semi-final).
His fortnight in Madrid nevertheless remains a considerable improvement: he had not won more than two matches in a row since the start of 2024. Even since March 2023, his victorious week in Basel last October aside.
In the ATP rankings, he will be rewarded with a jump of fifteen places and a return to the top 20, after six months spent outside.
