{"id":427279,"date":"2025-12-05T20:55:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/427279\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T20:55:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:55:36","slug":"rublev-relishing-challenging-uts-london-group-as-he-targets-third-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/427279\/","title":{"rendered":"Rublev relishing \u201cchallenging\u201d UTS London group as he targets third title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrey Rublev<\/strong><\/a> heads into this weekend\u2019s<\/strong> <\/strong>Victorian Plumbing UTS London Grand Final<\/strong><\/a> feeling refreshed and ready for battle, with the two-time champion welcoming a demanding Group A draw that he believes will push him to raise his level.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Russian hasn\u2019t had the easiest 2025 season \u2014 dropping out of the top 10 for the first time since 2020 and missing the ATP Finals \u2014 but he arrives at the Copper Box Arena in a positive frame of mind. Defending champion Alex de Minaur<\/a>, Tomas Machac<\/a> and Adrian Mannarino<\/a> await in his group, a trio known for their relentless court coverage and ability to grind out long rallies.<\/p>\n

Rather than viewing it as a problem, Rublev sees it as an opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the group. It\u2019s a challenging group because it will take a lot of effort in terms of legs, physical, heart condition,\u201d Rublev said on the eve of the event. \u201cAll those three players, they have amazing legs and they play long rallies. So you cannot rush with them, you cannot hit in two shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will kind of challenge me to bring a higher level in terms of mental, in terms of physical, in terms of legs, in terms of the way I will think on a court. And I like it because it\u2019s going to be a nice challenge for me to see if I\u2019m kind of able to do this or not really.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Tough opener against Machac<\/strong><\/p>\n

Friday night pits Rublev against Machac, the Czech who won UTS Guadalajara earlier this year. The pair have history on the ATP Tour \u2014 and it didn\u2019t go Rublev\u2019s way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know him a bit because we played once on Tour and he beat me. I know that he\u2019s a super fighter. He has a good mental part. He stays stable. Really amazing backhand, great mobility and legs,\u201d said Rublev. \u201cSo I think it\u2019s going to be an intense match with a lot of long rallies, waiting for opportunities to step in and attack. It\u2019s not like a match boom-boom. You need to build a point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday brings a rematch with de Minaur \u2014 the man Rublev defeated in last year\u2019s Oslo final \u2014 before a clash with French veteran Mannarino to close out group play.<\/p>\n

Feeling \u201cmuch better\u201d than 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the setbacks this season, Rublev is confident his body is in a better place than it was 12 months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think much better compared to last year. Sure, much better. I feel much better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also believes the Victorian Plumbing UTS London Grand Final offers something unique when it comes to pre-season preparation \u2014 an endurance workout with the added pressure of competition.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps a lot for your work because here you will do kind of endurance workout but with emotions, which is even tougher,\u201d he explained. \u201cJust to do endurance, sometimes you switch on like a robot mode and you don\u2019t think \u2014 you just need to suffer and that\u2019s it. And here you need to suffer, but also you have emotions and you need to think. It\u2019s like an even much better endurance workout compared to what players are doing in gyms or on the court during practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strong bond with Vicente continues<\/strong><\/p>\n

Away from the court, Rublev\u2019s coaching setup remains a source of stability. Fernando Vicente has been by his side for nearly a decade, with former world No 1 Marat Safin joining the team earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo good. I don\u2019t know for the moment what to say, but so good. He helps me a lot, a lot, a lot in many ways,\u201d Rublev said of Vicente. \u201cAnd our relationship, I think, is getting better and better. I think both of us enjoy it. Him enjoying working, I\u2019m enjoying practicing. It\u2019s been super good.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s doing all pre-season with me. He\u2019s coming to Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Group B features Casper Ruud<\/a>, Ugo Humbert<\/a> (in for the injured Jack Draper), Francisco Cerundolo<\/a> and David Goffin<\/a>. The semi-finals and final take place on Sunday, with the winner taking home up to $922,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrey Rublev heads into this weekend\u2019s Victorian Plumbing UTS London Grand Final feeling refreshed and ready for battle,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":427280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[62,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-427279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115668957552954288","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}