The top seed at the Croatia Open opened up about getting in touch with the former world No. 1 during his current slump.
While he declined to share any details of their conversation, Rublev says he came away feeling “confident” that his tennis struggles will soon be in the rearview mirror.
“Now, after Wimbledon, everything is in order, thank God, so there will be a breakthrough soon,” he said, adding, “I’m confident now that everything will be alright.”
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Could a long chat with the famously temperamental Safin be just what Rublev needs to hit the mental reset button? Only time will tell, but it’s clear the Moscow natives had a lot in common to discuss: Safin’s father, Mikhail, was the director of the Spartak Tennis Club, the same club where Rublev’s mom, Marina Marenko, is a longtime coach. Like Rublev, Safin’s tennis journey took him out of Russia and to Spain, with Marat and younger sister Dinara—herself a WTA world No. 1—moving to Valencia to train and Rublev landing at Galo Blanco’s 4Slam Tennis Academy in Barcelona.
And both Russians are known as hotheads, with Safin earning the “gifted but mercurial” label from tennis press after many moments of brilliance and epic meltdowns. Safin, though, eventually found a way to harness his strong emotions, and finished his career with two major crowns: the 2000 US Open and 2005 Australian Open titles.