You have to take responsibility for Rublev now!

The Russian says he loves the conditions here because it’s not fast tennis like in other tournaments. He says there are quite a lot of rallies and that it really looks like tennis in the purest sense.

Personally, I find that it’s fast this year, in any case much more than in the other editions. We had some rather tricky first days because of the weather, which slowed the game down. Tomorrow it’ll be sunny and I think it will be fast. Rublev has to be careful not to get caught out by that, but he knows what he’s talking about. He’s been training there for several days and is also defending a final, even though I’m talking about the 2024 edition. The Russian hasn’t played too badly lately and he likes having time to set up his game, as was the case on clay. Despite a loss that at first glance seemed like an underperformance against Lucas Van Asche, it turned out to be logical and not really worrying, since the Frenchman dominated the tournament all week. In their match, Rublev didn’t play badly. There was just an excellent Lucas on the other side of the net. All this to say that we have a well-prepared Rublev and, if he’s comfortable in these conditions and finds enough time to dictate the game, he’ll be a big threat.

He’s facing Shang, who has just recorded his first win on his return after several injuries. The Chinese player got past Vallejo, who is really poor away from clay. It was a good match from Shang, but it’s not the level he’ll be facing in this second round, neither in terms of profile nor in pure tennis terms. He has already lost twice to Rublev and doesn’t really like the Russian’s style. If I compare it with what we saw last week in Washington against Nishikori, Shang simply couldn’t dictate the rallies and spent his time being run from side to side against a player who took the ball early and played at a high tempo. Doesn’t that remind you of someone? Well, to me, Rublev is somewhat in the same category. He’s probably more erratic than Nishikori, but in principle he has that kind of game style which, in my view, can trouble Shang.

It’s also going to depend quite a bit on how fast the surface is because, if it’s quick, I think Shang will have a shot with his lefty touch since he also knows how to play very fast. The thing is, if it’s too slow, for me Rublev will be in an armchair, able to dictate the game and be comfortable. Then again, we know Rublev, who can tighten up all by himself and start yelling at his box after five minutes of play for no apparent reason. It’s still a first round of a Masters 1000, you need to get your tournament going, so I wouldn’t back the Russian at too low a price.