Against the background of fatigue: how Rublev lost to Tsitsipas in the final of the tournament in Monte Carlo

For Andrey Rublev, a possible victory at the Masters tournament in Monte Carlo could mean a lot.

The Russian could not only win the ATP 1000 series for the first time, but also become one of the six strongest tennis players on the planet.

Even defeat could not prevent the 23-year-old Muscovite from surpassing the legendary Roger Federer in the ranking, and if successful, he could leave behind the finalist of last year's US Open - Alexander Zverev.

But in order to accomplish all this, he needed to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas.

For a Russian, the confrontation with the Greek can be safely called one of the most fundamental. It was with him that he had the most head-to-head matches at the moment (eight), and won only half of them. More often than Rublev, only Daniil Medvedev and Fabio Fognini managed to win (both five times), and Mikhail Kukushkin achieved success four times. But if the Russian lost to the Italian and the Kazakhstani until 2019, after which he seized the initiative, then with Stefanos they continue to fight on equal terms until now and will certainly continue in the future.

Starting in September 2020, Rublev and Tsitsipas shared the court four times with each other and turned out to be stronger an equal number of times. Moreover, in key matches, luck accompanied the Russian. First, he took over in the final of the championship in Hamburg, and then repeated his success in the semifinals of the competition in Rotterdam, the trophy of which he later won. The Greek took revenge in the Roland Garros quarterfinals, and then broke the resistance of his counterpart in the group stage of the ATP Final tournament.

In addition to equality in personal meetings, future opponents were united by another fact - until now, both had zero in the column "victories at the Masters".

True, if Rublev had never been so close to owning the coveted cup before, then Tsitsipas was already twice in the step of triumph.

In 2018, he lost to Rafael Nadal at the Rogers Cup in Montreal and Toronto, and a year later he failed to cope with Novak Djokovic in Madrid.

As for Andrey, his biggest achievement at the Masters so far was reaching the semifinals in Miami two weeks earlier.

The Russian tennis player confidently walked towards the title and did not give up a single set until the meeting with Hubert Hurkach, but he could not cope with the Pole.

As Rublev later admitted, the reason for this was incontinence.

“I lost (in Miami

- RT

) because of emotions. Ultimately, if you want to learn, you can change that. I want to learn and improve. That's why I'm getting better. It is not simple. In some games, emotions jump like that. Looks like this week I manage to control them. Therefore, I play well. Therefore, I defeated Roberto (Bautista Aguta 

- RT

), although I initially lost. Therefore, I beat Rafa (Nadal. 

- RT

) after his comeback in the second set. Even today in the second set I managed to make a comeback because I didn't freak out. I stayed focused, watched the game and turned the tide, ”admitted Rublev after defeating Kasper Ruud in the semifinals.

Rublev continued to work on mistakes and at the start of the finals in Monte Carlo looked extremely cold-blooded, but it cannot be said that this would benefit him. During the first ten minutes, he quite calmly watched Tsitsipas relentlessly come off in the account. During this short period of time, the Greek took three games and provided himself with a comfortable advantage, which he did not lose later. Stefanos was energetic, inventive and practically did not make mistakes, and on the first serve did not leave Andrey a chance. In the first set, he gave the opponent only two rallies out of 17 on the first ball, which was the key factor.

As a result, in the first game, Rublev managed to win three games.

At first glance, a very decent result for such an unsuccessfully developing match, but it was hardly worth being content with.

Tsitsipas's advantage was overwhelming and it was difficult to unequivocally answer whether the Russian would have been able to complete the set with such a score if the Greek had not begun to save energy.

At the reception, Stefanos was clearly not at his limit, leaving energy for the rest of the meeting.

Stunning from start to finish 👏

🇬🇷 @steftsitsipas at this absolute best on his way to a maiden ATP Masters 1000 title!

# RolexMCMasterspic.twitter.com / 99ecVCg4h3

- ATP Tour (@atptour) April 18, 2021

The beginning of the second set confirmed that Rublev really managed to recover a little after a failed debut. He became much more stable to hit the first ball, which helped him, albeit not without difficulty, but lead the score. However, at the reception, no significant progress was achieved. Tsitsipas still dominated his own serve, and already in the third game he was hooked on someone else's. As in the previous game, the Greek needed only one chance to make a break. And the Russian again found himself in the role of a catch-up.

During the second set, Tsitsipas did not slow down and it was very difficult to say what could help Rublev turn the tide of the match.

Stefanos succeeded in almost everything: he directed almost every ball exactly under the back line, defended perfectly, and punished the opponent for the slightest shortcomings.

Perhaps the difference in physical condition affected.

Nevertheless, the Russian survived two intense three-set battles with Nadal and Bautista Agut.

The Greek not only has never spent more than 102 minutes on the court, he has also not met with any tennis player from the top 20.

Andrei could only be helped by a pause and hope for such a development of events appeared in the middle of the game.

It started raining in Monte Carlo, but not so heavy that the organizers had to call a break.

In the remaining time, the Russian was never able to compete. He not only did not earn a single break point, but he did not even manage to win more than two rallies on one opponent's serve. Subsequently, Andrei finally lost faith in himself and, with the score 3: 5, allowed Stefanos to make a break again. Tsitsipas defeated Rublev for the fifth time and won the Masters series tournament for the first time in his career.