By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Sunday, July 9, 2023
Launching himself airborne, Andrey Rublev landed a ridiculous diving winner to help seal a thrilling five-set win over Alexander Bublik.
Racing behind the baseline, Rublev went fully horizontal hurling his body in a Boris Becker-like dive to hit a jaw-dropping winner for a third match point in the final game of their fourth-round clash.
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Watch rival Bublik's stunned expression after seeing Rublev's audacious strike on one of the best shots of the season.
That dazzling dive helped Rublev finally subdue a feisty Bublik 7-5, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-7(5), 6-4 to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time in five appearances.
"Probably the most luckiest shot ever," Rublev told Annabel Croft in his on-court interview. "I don’t think I can do it again...
"Was it worth it? I won the match and I'm in the quarterfinals. It was worth it."
It was not only a sensational strike, it was a crucial shot. Had Rublev lost the point it would have been 30-all and he would have been under severe stress.
Afterward, Rublev said the shot surprised him most of all, primarily because he doesn't recall diving for a ball successfully until this week because he was scared to go airborne.
"The feeling that at least I have one amazing point in my career," Rublev said when asked to sum up his feeling about the shot. "But the feeling is that obviously all my life I didn't know how to dive.
"I was couple of times in the past years thinking, Oh, now on grass, at least try on practice, try without the ball to do it. I couldn't. I was too scared."
The fear factor diminished after Rublev pulled off the first diving shot he can recall defeating David Goffin in the third round.
"Then on the match against Goffin, I don't know, somehow it comes natural. I did a real dive. Then today was this one, I don't know, one-leg dive, something," Rublev said. "I don't know how you can call it. I don't know how I make it. I didn't even see the ball.
"I didn't even see how I hit it. I didn't even see how it went. I realize it after when the people start to scream and I see the face of Sascha, then I realize that I make it somehow."
The seventh-seeded Rublev awaits either seven-time champion Novak Djokovic or Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals.