Andrey Rublev (tennis)

Rublev playing at the junior US Open in 2013.

Rublev debuted in Luxembourg at age 13, getting his first win in his second competition in Phoenix.[4] In the following years, Rublev could climb the third rounds in singles and in December 2012 he won one of the top junior competitions, the Orange Bowl.[4]

Next, in spring of 2013, Rublev achieved the NWU PUKKE/RVTA Junior ITF 1 cup in Potchefstroom, South Africa. He successfully competed in following tournaments, especially on clay surface, including the Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan, and became quarter-finalist at the 2014 Australian Open junior singles. At the doubles competition he paired with German Alexander Zverev, reaching the quarter-finals. The first notable win was at the 2014 French Open junior singles, crushing Munar Clar.[4] There he reached the semifinals with partner Stefan Kozlov, before being knocked down by Frenchmen and future winners Benjamin Bonzi / Quentin Halys. Shortly before Wimbledon, Rublev captured the cup at the Nike Junior International Roehampton in Roehampton, Great Britain. In the Wimbledon Championships, Rublev reached the third round before being beaten by 1842nd-ranked Dutch van Rijthoven in three tight sets.[7] In doubles, Rublev and Kozlov lost to Brazilians Orlando Luz and Marcelo Zormann in three sets, attaining his first junior Grand Slam final in doubles.[8]

Rublev took a break before competing at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics, where he played in all three events as first-seeded. In singles, he lost to Kamil Majchrzak in three sets, but received a bronze medal for beating Jumpei Yamasaki. Partnering with fellow Karen Khachanov in doubles, Rublev reached the finals, where they again lost to Brazilians Luz and Zormann. He and his mixed partner Darya Kasatkina only reached the second round, where they were defeated by silver medalists Ye Qiuyu and Yamazaki.

In April 2015, Rublev finished his junior career by winning the inaugural ITF Junior Masters in Chengdu, China. In the final, the Russian beat Taylor Fritz in three sets.[9]

Rublev debuted at the Bulgaria F6 Futures, reaching the quarterfinals. He continued his career in Bulgaria, where he again reached the quarterfinals, but became runner-up in doubles. The 15-year-old finalised in Minsk, Belarus. After unsuccessful autumn games he received his first win at the USA F31 Futures in Bradenton, United States. In the new 2014 tour he started in Kazakhstan, reaching semifinal and final in the two Future events in Aktobe, respectively. In the latter he beat Belarusian Yaraslau Shyla to reach his second win. Rublev succeeded finals of the Czech Republic F1 Futures in doubles, partnering with Pole Andriej Kapaś, and continued his success in the Russia F3 Futures in Moscow, championing in the singles and running-up in the doubles competitions.

In 2015, Rublev entered the first ATP tournament in Delray Beach, where he reached the second round. There he was knocked down by Steve Johnson in two straight sets.

Rublev made his debut at the Davis Cup, where in the second round play-off of the Europe Zone Group I, in the third rubber, he partnered with Konstantin Kravchuk and won the match against the Portuguese team Gastão Elias / João Sousa in three sets.[10]

The Russian participated at his first Masters 1000 entry in Miami, where he defeated Pablo Carreño Busta, but lost to John Isner. He entered the clay season at the Barcelona Open, where as a qualifier he reached the second round after overcoming Fernando Verdasco.

With his win over Finn Jarkko Nieminen at Geneva Open, 17-year-old Rublev repeated Nadal's success in winning at least once on five ATP tournaments in one season as a teenager who is under 18 years old. (Nadal did that in 2004.)[11][12]

Rublev was called for the Davis Cup team in the 2015 Davis Cup Europea/Africa Zone Group I match against Spain, held in Vladivostok. After losing his first match against Tommy Robredo, Rublev rallied to win his second match against Pablo Andújar in sets in the decisive fifth rubber to complete a 0–2 comeback for Russia against five-time champion Spain. This secured team Russia a place in the World Group Play-offs. Russia played in the World Group Play-offs last time in 2012, losing then to Brazil 0–5.[13]

He made his grandslam debut at 2015 US Open as qualifier. Rublev won his first ATP title at the 2015 Kremlin Cup in doubles, partnering with comeback Dmitry Tursunov.

Also during 2015 Rublev was accused by the Argentine player Renzo Olivo of employing intimidation tactics during their match at the Moscow Challenger tournament.[14]

Rublev started the 2016 ATP World Tour at the Aircel Chennai Open, losing to Stan Wawrinka in the second round. He reached only the first and second rounds of ATP 250 and Challenger tournaments. In March this poor performance led to his decision to part ways with his coach Sergey Tarasevich. Immediately after that, on 6 March 2016 he made a turn by winning his first Challenger in singles, defeating Paul-Henri Mathieu in Quimper, France. As a result, Rublev jumped 47 positions from 208th to 161st ranking position, a new career-high.[15] In April he joined 4Slam Academy in Barcelona, run by Galo Blanco.[16]

Rublev started well in the 2017 ATP World Tour, reaching the 2nd Round of the Australian Open after qualification. On the way he beat 60th-ranked Yen-Hsun Lu, but then lost to Andy Murray. Rublev was successful in some Challenger tournaments. He reached the 2017 Open de Rennes Challenger final, losing there to Belarussian Uladzimir Ignatik. Again in Quimper, France, Rublev now reached the semifinals, losing to Peter Gojowczyk. Rublev also reached the semifinals in Irving, Texas.

The Russian made some success on grass court tournaments. He got into the quarterfinals of the Halle Open, losing there to his compatriot Karen Khachanov in a tight match. In the next tournament, the Wimbledon Championships, Rublev could reach the 2nd Round, losing there to Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Despite losing in the qualification round, Rublev as lucky loser reached his first ATP singles final at the Umag Open, beating in the quarterfinals defending champion Fabio Fognini. In the final he beat Paolo Lorenzi in straight sets to win his first ATP singles title. It was the seventh time that a lucky loser would win a tournament, the last tennis player doing so at that time was Rajeev Ram in 2009 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.[17]

Rublev went on to compete at the 2017 US Open as a direct entrant. He grabbed his first win against top 10 player, beating No.9 Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets and made through to the quarterfinals, beating David Goffin in the fourth round in straight sets. Rublev lost in straight sets to ATP world #1 and eventual champion Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.[18]

He qualified for the Next Generation ATP Finals in Milan and made it into the finals, but lost to Hyeon Chung.

Rublev commenced the 2018 season in Doha, where he went to the final, eventually losing in straight sets to Gaël Monfils. Next, the Russian reached the Round of 32 of the Australian Open, where he was seeded for the first time in a Grand Slam event at number 30, but lost to third seed Grigor Dimitrov in four sets.

Rublev continued his run of good form by reaching back-to-back quarterfinals in Montepellier and Rotterdam, losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Grigor Dimitrov, respectively. The Russian then had a first round exit in Acapulco, losing to David Ferrer. He did not compete at the 2018 French Open or 2018 Wimbledon due to a back injury he sustained at the Monte Carlo Masters where he lost in the third round to Dominic Thiem after having had a match point.[19]

Later in the season after returning to active play he lost to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the first round of the US Open.

Rublev opened 2019 by making the round of sixteen in Doha at a tournament in which he had been the runner-up in the previous year. This loss came at the hand of the fifth seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili who defeated Rublev in straight sets in only 61 minutes.[20] Next, in the 2019 Australian Open, Rublev lost in four sets in the first round to American Mackenzie McDonald.

In the Hamburg European Open, Rublev achieved his second win over a top 10 player by defeating the top seed and world number 4 Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals. He lost to Georgian 4th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili in the final.

In August, Rublev had the biggest win of his career so far at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he defeated Roger Federer in the third round in straight sets, handing Federer his fastest loss in some sixteen years.[21] Rublev then went onto to lose to the tournament's eventual winner Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals.

At the US Open, the unseeded Rublev defeated eighth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in four sets in the first round. In the second round Rublev won the first set against Gilles Simon, but Simon retired early in the second set sending Rublev into the third round. There he defeated Australian Nick Kyrgios in straight sets, catapulting him to the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam tournament for the second time.[22] There he lost in straight sets to the Italian player Matteo Berrettini.

Later in the 2019 campaign Rublev lost in the second round to the Italian player Fabio Fognini in straight sets at the China Open in Beijing, after having beaten the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the first round.[23]

On his 22nd birthday, Rublev won his 2nd ATP title at the Kremlin Cup, defeating the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in straight sets in the final.[24]

Rublev entered the 2020 ATP season by winning back-to-back titles. Not allowed to compete in the newly established ATP Cup, as only a country's top two singles tennis players qualified, Rublev instead entered the Qatar Open, this time winning the trophy as he failed to do so two years ago. Next, Rublev took part in the maiden 2020 Adelaide International. Third-seeded, Rublev overcame Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime in a three-set marathon match in the semifinal, before reaching the final and soundly defeating qualifier Lloyd Harris. Together with his results at 2019 Davis Cup Finals, this was twelfth consecutive win for Rublev. He became the first player to win two ATP tournaments in the first two weeks of the season since 2004, when Dominik Hrbatý won tournaments in Adelaide and Auckland.[25]

Next up for Rublev was the first of the year's four grand slam tournaments, the 2020 Australian Open where Rublev extended his early 2020 undefeated winning streak to 11 matches by coming from behind for a four-set third round Victory over the 11th seed David Goffin of Belgium. His unbeaten 2020 run then ended the 4th round where he lost in straight sets to the 7th seed Alexander Zverev of Germany, who advanced to his first Australian Open quarterfinal.[26][27]

Next in the Rotterdam Open the seventh-seeded Rublev advanced into the quarterfinals with a round of 16 victory over Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan.[28]  However he then lost in straight sets to Filip Krajinović of Serbia who then advanced to the semis.[29]

Then in February at the Dubai Tennis Championships Rublev made it to the quarterfinals where he lost in straight sets to the unseeded Dan Evans of Great Britain.[30]

After tournaments that should have started but were cancelled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the late 2020 season saw a number of replacement exhibition tournaments. Rublev participated at the Adria Tour, taking place in the Balkans. The tournament was split into four groups of 4 players each. Rublev, playing in the Alexander Zverev group, in Zadar, Croatia, beat Marin Čilić, Danilo Petrović and Alexander Zverev to qualify into the final, where he should compete with Novak Djokovic. However, one of the participants, Grigor Dimitrov, was tested positive for the coronavirus and so the final match was cancelled.[31]