The Monte Carlo Masters was the first clay tournament for many tennis players this year, to which athletes have different attitudes. So, Daniil Medvedev always frankly admits that he does not like to play on the ground and grass. Nevertheless, the athlete is trying to improve. This time in Monaco, he even reached the quarterfinals.
Andrey Rublev started his performance much better. Unlike his compatriot, he, as in 2021, reached the decisive match. The path to it turned out to be difficult. First, the tennis player knocked Karen Khachanov out of the fight in three sets, who had recently regained his form and even played in the semifinals of the Australian Open for the first time in his career, and then coped with an uncomfortable opponent for himself - Taylor Fritz: the American prevailed in the last three confrontations, but capitulated in Monte Carlo.
For the title, Andrei had to fight with the young talent Holger Rune, along with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who had recently burst into the elite of world tennis. The 19-year-old Dane does not have many titles yet. He won trophies in Munich and Stockholm, and made a name for himself at the Masters in Paris, when he was stronger than five athletes from the top 10 of the ATP rankings, defeating Novak Djokovic himself.
At the moment, Rune himself is among the top ten, and in Monte Carlo he again forced to talk about himself. True, not only thanks to a good game (he defeated Matteo Berettini, Medvedev and Sinner). Holger, during the confrontation with Yannick, provoked the audience and tried to create conflict situations between the audience and his boxing, which the Italian clearly did not like. He coldly shook the Dane's hand, and then refused to comment on the opponent's act. Rune, on the other hand, explained the outrageous behavior by the desire to make tennis more interesting for fans.
In the final of the tournament in Monte Carlo, no one should have been bored without the antics of the young man. Still, Rublev is emotional: he can break his racket on the court or knee. In addition, the last match between the tennis players turned out to be very tense. Andrey won in the fourth round of the Australian Open. Then the athlete lost in the fifth set - 2:5, but escaped, having played two matchballs at 5:6 on his serve, and then burned 0:5 in the decisive tie-break, but in the end he still went further.
The meeting in Monte Carlo turned out to be no less "validol". On the very first serve of Rublev, a struggle ensued, but Holger managed to make a break only in the sixth game, torturing his opponent with shortened ones. However, Andrei immediately leveled the situation, although it was not easy: he took a point on the reception only on the fifth attempt.
Then the situation on the court calmed down a little, and the Russian won two of his games at zero, but at the decisive moment he lacked composure. With a score of 6:6 on the serve, the Russian athlete made two unforced errors: he tore off a cross from the backhand, and then hit the net in a simple situation. Thus, Andrei gave Holger a setball, which he immediately used.
In the second game, the Russian began to act more confidently and immediately took a point on the opponent's serve. Andrei could have taken a 3-0 lead, but instead Rune made a reverse break. Rublev quarreled in frustration at the line, spat on it and rubbed his sneaker with the sole. This manipulation helped to pull himself together, and then he easily won four games in a row, without noticing the resistance of his opponent.
It was not possible to develop success. In the decisive set, Rune quickly seized the initiative. In a stubborn second game, during which the score was "exactly" fixed four times, although it all started with a confident 40:0 in favor of Rublev, the Dane used the first break point. The Russian tried to recoup, but did not use his chances, and the opponent led 4:1.
Andrei, as if remembering the previous match, did not give up until the very end. And Holger flinched. He helped his opponent take a point on the reception, allowing two doubles, and the decisive error was in the 11th game at 5:5. The Russian again earned two break points, and instead of reliable actions, Rune sent the ball into the net on the second serve.
The young man was so upset that he knocked the ball into the stands out of frustration. For this, he received a portion of whistling from the fans, but continued to freak out and gesticulate something to the audience. After the warning, Holger calmed down, but it became clear from his condition that the Russian would now win the match. And so it happened: Andriy earned a triple matchball and put an end to the game with an ace.
Thus, Rublev won the trophy at the Masters tournament for the first time in his career. To do this, it took him three attempts. In 2021, here in Monte Carlo, he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas, and in Cincinnati to Alexander Zverev.
"I'm in tears. I don't know what to say. I am so happy. I fought so hard to win the Masters 1000 tournament. I lost 1-4, 0/30, then saved break points, thinking that I had no chance of winning. But somehow I managed to do it. Deep down, I was hoping for at least one chance. I played until the end. I remember the previous finals: when I was losing, I thought I had no chance, and I was mentally falling. But today I decided: "Just believe to the end." And that's what I tried to do in the third set, hoping that I would have an extra chance to come back and do it," Andrei said.
As noted by the three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles Elena Vesnina, Rublev this time was able to win the trophy thanks to his moral and volitional qualities.
"Rune was amazing. It seemed that in the end it was impossible to save this match, but Andriy did a great job! Due to experience and composure, he was able to survive and complete the meeting in his favor. Rublev's amazing result. I can't say that both played their best tennis. Sometimes it's hard to show in the final. It was a working victory on common sense," Vesnina said in an interview with the Championship.
For Andrey, this is the 13th title in his career. Now the athlete is in fifth place among tennis players from Russia in terms of the number of trophies. The leader in this list is Evgeny Kafelnikov (26). In the ATP ranking at the end of the tournament in Monte Carlo, Rublev will remain on the sixth line.