Andrey Rublev ‘didn’t act fairly’ claims beaten opponent

Andrey Rublev has been criticised by Lorenzo Sonego, who claims that the Russian turned up to their match last week with his suitcases. 

Rublev is currently in Turin for the ATP Finals, but did not know the fate of his qualification until last week after Novak Djokovic withdrew from the tournament.

Prior to knowing about Djokovic’s withdrawal, Rublev took a late entry to the ATP 250 tournament in Metz in an effort to get some last-minute ranking points.

And on Tuesday, Rublev played Sonego and beat him in straight sets on the same day that his qualification for the year-end finals was confirmed.

Quarter-final bound 🙌@AndreyRublev97 battles past Sonego 7-6 7-5 for a win on his @MoselleOpen debut. pic.twitter.com/jkdsI1RrAG

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 5, 2024

The World No.8 subsequently withdrew from the remainder of the tournament, citing abdominal pain.

However, Sonego has exclusively told Ubitennis that he was not happy with Rublev after this and revealed that his opponent had always planned to make this his only match in Metz.

“Rublev didn’t act very fairly,” claims Sonego. “There are people who go to tournaments to play and to try to do well, people who want to advance. There were some lucky losers waiting to get in, and he took the spot from a lucky loser; he took away my chance to move forward in the tournament when he already knew he wasn’t going to play. It wasn’t very fair or respectful toward me.”

The Italian continued, “Also, his coach had told him he’d be leaving before the match. They already knew they were leaving; he even showed up on court with his suitcases. It wasn’t a nice thing for us players who maybe put our heart into moving forward in a tournament, while he doesn’t care at all about it.”

During his match,A.Rublev experienced pain,which was confirmed by on-site medical staff who suspected an abdominal injury.He chose to withdraw from the tournament and travel to Turin to follow a treatment and recovery protocol,to enhance his chances of competing in the ATP Finals pic.twitter.com/OcHiOtPVOY

— Moselle Open (@MoselleOpen) November 5, 2024

Rublev is now in Turin for his fifth consecutive ATP Finals, and will begin his round-robin campaign later today against Alexander Zverev.

Inside the baseline…

Lorenzo Sonego’s frustration is completely understandable, as it makes a bit of a mockery if Andrey Rublev did actually show up with his suitcases and almost shows a lack of respect for a tournament. However, everyone knows that the reason Rublev played in Metz was to qualify for the ATP Finals, and it is understandable that once that was confirmed he no longer had an incentive to be there – despite how that may look to other people in the draw.

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