By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday February 25, 2022
The first time that Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev got together on a tennis court it was all-out war. Rublev talks about the moment with reverence even now: “You can see that both of us had a spirit, doesn't matter how, but don't give up,” he said.
Now that is compatriot is set to become the first non-Big Four ATP player to hold the No.1 ranking since 2004, Rublev says it is well-deserved. “It was just a question of time,” he says. “That's it in this case. I can say only good job to him because he did something that, I don't know, when was last time, 2004? He achieved something. For him, for sure, is historic moment.”
Rublev, who reached the final in Dubai on Friday with a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) victory over Hubert Hurkacz, knows what makes Medvedev so strong perhaps better than any other player.
“I told him many times the things that he's doing, it's unbelievable,” he said. “I think he inspired a lot of people, myself as well, because the things sometimes he do on court, game-wise, let's talk about the game, it's incredible. The way he play, the way he think, the way he wins some rallies is impossible to win. It's very impressive. I mean, there is so many things to learn from him in the game-wise.”
And those same characteristics that Rublev saw in his friend when they were juniors have taken Medvedev to the top of tennis. The fighting spirit lives large in Medvedev, as it does in Rublev.
“Since he was a kid he was always fighting,” Rublev said. “In the beginning I think when he was kid he didn't had that good technique. He had weird shots. Basically now as well. When he was a kid it was even worse.
“He didn't have the huge strokes or something, but he had this amazing thing that he's showing now, that he was fighting no matter what the end. This is since he was a kid. It was not that he changed something, he was like this since I know him. This is the main thing why it bring him to the top level, why he win and he achieve so many great tournaments. Now he's No. 1.”