Rublev lost to a huge Pole. Rewarded for a boorish act?

Despite the relative failures at the Grand Slam tournaments, this year is still a breakthrough for Andrei Rublev.

The second final of the Masters category competition of the season could again become triumphant for Andrey. His flawless performance in Shanghai made Rublev the favorite in the match against Hubert Hurkacz.

However, the Pole appeared as a monster, incinerating with his first serve.

Perfect delivery

The road to the final of the ATP 1000 tournament in Shanghai was pleasant for Rublev. Andrey confidently passed all his opponents without losing a single set. Even in the semifinals against his friend Grigor Dimitrov, our athlete won in two games, although this game can be called the most difficult for Rublev in the net.

By almost all statistical estimates, Andrei was the favorite. He is ahead of the Pole in the ranking by 10 positions, and besides, he won the previous two head-to-head matches. The main thing, and almost the only thing in which the opponent in the final is superior to Rublev, is serving. With a height of 196 cm, you shouldn’t be surprised by Hurkacz’s most powerful aces.

Actually, he played the first set in a way that could only have been imagined in Rublev’s worst dream: a deadly and accurate serve did not allow Andrey to cling to other people’s games. At the same time, Andrey confidently won games on his serve at first.

The rallies during the Pole’s games, as a rule, lasted no more than two or three hits: Hubert serves, Andrei, if he receives, it is not into the court. It became clear that with such a percentage of first serve hits, Rublev had minimal chances of winning the title.

In the sixth game, Rublev faltered and gave the Pole three break points, which was enough for him to gain a solid advantage in the opening game: 4:2. Rublev was noticeably nervous, kicked the court several times and behaved provocatively. But was it ever different? Our tennis player knows how to excite himself and the audience, but for the final he needs something more.

Andrey Rublev / Photo: © Xinhua/Wang Lili/Global Look Press

The Pole held his serve and won the first set – 6:3. The Russian lost a game for the first time in Shanghai and looked confused.

Another Rublev

After the break, our player came out with a different attitude, gave out three aces on the move and took his game to zero. This confidence had an effect on the opponent. Although Hurkacz continued to have a good ball entry, Rublev found a way to improve his move, which led to Andrey’s first break point of the match. The Russian did not squander his chance – 2:0.

The Olympic champion strengthened his advantage with his serve. Now everything was in Rublev’s hands: both the second game and the entire match. It must be admitted that from that moment on, the 25-year-old tennis player carefully and confidently played almost all the rallies, and even backed it up with a high-quality serve. Hubert had few chances in such a game, so Andrey easily made a mirror response – 3:6, 6:3.

Boorish behavior

The most comical moment of the match occurred before the second game of the deciding set. The ballboys slipped Rublev balls, which our player refused to serve. He was so indignant that even the judge came down from the tower and went to solve the problem himself: he manually sorted out and put several balls on Andrei’s racket.

In the second game, Rublev was behind 15:40, but finished every rally, for which he was rewarded with a break point. This time it was not possible to convert the opportunity – the Pole left the game behind him with two good serves.

The local failure agitated Andrei, so that he began to lose his temper again. Although Rublev basically never stopped talking to the coach. And with the score 4:5 on his serve, Andrei allowed Hurkac to earn a match point, although the Pole had just lost 15:40.

At that moment, the audience saw the peak of Rublev’s aggression, who, having lost the rally, purposefully ran to the photographers’ place of work and yelled at one of the Chinese – he, in Andrei’s opinion, moved too much in the midst of the game, which greatly disturbed the Russian. The amazed photographer couldn’t even say anything.

Andrey Rublev / Photo: © Fred Lee / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Naturally, Rublev received a warning from the referee, but this benefited the player. Andrey collected himself and took the serve – 5:5. The finale ended according to the laws of the best dramatic film. At the beginning of the tie-break, the Russian made a mini-break, but failed to bring the matter to the final victory.

Hurkacz regained the advantage and got his chance to win – his second in this final. Then another one. But Rublev, with titanic efforts, pulled the Pole’s serve, which reached 220 km/h. The game went on until the next mistake, which, unfortunately, was made by Rublev – 3:6, 6:3, 6:7 (8:10).

Andrei lost the most important final of the Masters and was unable to achieve the best achievement in his career – the Russian has not yet become the fourth racket in the world.