By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Friday, May 31, 2024
Andrey Rublev pulled his black t-shirt over his face and unleashed a primal scream.
A raging Rublev repeatedly smashed his racquet against his leg, slamed his stick off the red clay in frustration and looked like a man trapped in a horror movie of his own making.
Nadal: Three Factors Will Decide My Future
World No. 35 Matteo Arnaldi rolled Rublev 7-6(8), 6-2, 6-4 to reach the Roland Garros fourth round for the first time.
Afterward, Rublev summed up his implosion simply: Sheer Self destruction.
“The problem is the head, that today basically I kill myself, and that’s it,” Rublev told the media in Paris.
It was an afternoon to forget for Andrey Rublev at Roland-Garros 😬💥#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/U0ou2C16Ca
— Eurosport (@eurosport) May 31, 2024
Credit Arnaldi with cracking drives with ambition.
Arnaldi hit 10 more winners than Rublev—47 to 37—smacked 13 aces and won 20 of 28 second-serve points.
Still, Rublev, who has yet to surpass a major quarterfinal in 26 Grand Slam appearances, crumbled emotionally.
It’s a deeply disappointing defeat for Rublev, who played with poise and power capturing the Mutua Madrid Open championship earlier this month.
The 2014 Roland Garros boys’ champion Rublev called it his worst behavior in a major match.
“Completely disappointed with myself the way I behaved, the way I performed, and I don’t remember behaving worse on a slams ever,” Rublev said. “I think it was first time I ever behave that bad. Not much to say.”
While Arnaldi, who also reached the 2023 US Open fourth round, moves on to potentially play former French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round, Rublev is faced with a familiar question.
Can Rublev someday tame the demons that haunt his head, calm down and deliver his best tennis in Slams?
“Everything was fine before the match. I did good warmup. I was feeling well,” Rublev said. “It’s just those things in a match completely, yeah, completely click me and I couldn’t — I start, I wanted, yeah, it was just really bad behavior by me.”
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Blog RSS…