World No. 17 Andrey Rublev commented on his fall in the rankings after his early defeat at the Madrid Masters. The Russian player dropped nine positions today.
– Naturally, after the loss in Madrid, you fell in the rankings. Is it easy for you to cope with this?
“I fell to rise (smiles). Actually, everything is fine. It was probably expected anyway. So, on the contrary, it`s even good. It means we will rise better. And honestly, I feel quite calm because I know that the process is set up correctly right now. Things are actually getting better and better. I understand and feel this myself. It just remains to make that `click` happen during matches for everything to come together.”
– How is the process with Marat [Safin] progressing? What does the path he is showing look like?
“There is progress, it`s tough, but it`s there (smiles). With anger, with pain, but it`s moving in the right direction, so we`ll see.”
– There`s a possibility you could play against Fonseca. How do you assess his progress since Australia?
“We`ll see. There will be a match again, so it will be interesting. It will be interesting for me to test myself, because right now there isn`t confidence, but there is progress – and I`m personally curious what might come of it. This is a kind of test for me that I`m looking forward to. I have nothing to lose, and I`m even interested to see what happens.”
Marcus Blakely