The Unsinkable

"The more he wins, the closer he is to losing"

Rublev of course takes it with humor, and he’s absolutely right.

The only question we can legitimately ask here is: can the Russian land us a games handicap or an over on games?

Honestly, he was already on the edge against Basilashvili. Add to that an unfavorable match‑up (not to say catastrophic), and you’ve got how I feel about this match. Quite similarly to his match against Arthur Fils in Monte Carlo last year, when the Russian faces an opponent who plays faster than he does, he’s lost. He’s made his living like that for years, it’s deeply ingrained in his DNA, and he’s never really tried to evolve his game toward a diversification of style and shots. He himself admits he’s taken his game as far as it could go by reaching world No. 5, and that he needed something new. I don’t know what he has in mind, but the transformation is going to be long! With Safin, he’s already started working on the mental side of things, you’ll tell me...

So of course, zero pressure, loose arm, he’s going to be even more aggressive. But here we’re almost in mission impossible territory, even if Marat Safin, former world No. 1 and producer of some great exploits, can help him believe in it...