Andrey Rublev has given an update regarding an injury he picked up during his match against Nuno Borges of Portugal in the first round of the Monte-Carlo Masters on Monday. The 2023 Monte Carlo Masters champion raised concerns after requiring a medical timeout in the first set, as he struggled with his shoulder. He managed to win the set 6-4 after returning to the court.
Rublev’s Mental Fortitude and Painkillers
The injury’s impact became more evident in the second set, which Rublev lost 1-6. However, in the deciding set, he secured a 6-1 victory, helped by “a horse dose of painkillers”.
Rublev described the match as a mental victory, saying that he almost lost it, but the painkillers worked in time. “Obviously, I think today was exactly a mental victory for me, because in one moment, I thought, okay, it’s done. And then I was able to kind of, Okay, let’s just accept it, let’s just kind of trust, let’s trust, don’t start to put pictures now, ‘It’s over, I cannot play, maybe I need to pull out or something’. Let it be the way it should be,” Rublev said straight after the match.
“In the end, I think for sure it helped a lot. First of all, to be able to finish the first set, and then somehow to not pay attention that I am losing in the second. In the end, somehow, out of nowhere, I start to feel better. I was able to fight again, to play better, and in the end, I was able to win a match.”
The Injury’s Onset and Extent
Andrey Rublev said the pain worsened as time passed. He mentioned that he had picked up the issue before he first felt it.
“To be honest, was a bit earlier, I just didn’t feel it. When I came back from the changeover at 4-3, when I went for a serve, I start to feel it a little bit. After the first serve that I did, I start to feel it much more, and after that long rally, is when it was completely done,” Andrey Rublev said.
When questioned about his physical condition, he responded that it would take five to six hours to determine the extent of the injury.
“The body feeling? I don’t know, because I took a horse dose of painkillers and a medical [timeout]. So I don’t know, let’s see after five, six hours, or tomorrow, how is the body?” he revealed.
Rublev is scheduled to play Belgium’s Zizou Bergs in the round of 32 on Tuesday.