"Can't wish any player to go through this" - Andrey Rublev offers sympathy and support to Jannik Sinner amid doping row
Andrey Rublev is known as one of the nicest tennis players on Tour, and it isn't something that the media propagates on their own. It's actually something that his colleagues, who play against him and share the locker room with him, often talk about.
Rublev himself has almost exclusively positive things to say about his colleagues, and in a recent interview with Eurosport, he proved it once more. Rublev talked about Jannik Sinner and the year he had in light of the positive doping test and the fallout from that.
Sinner tested positive for a banned substance earlier in the year and faced a lot of criticism and pressure when that became public knowledge ahead of the US Open. There were many things said including allegations of corruption but ultimately the Italian rose above all of that.
He delivered one of the most iconic tennis seasons in recent memory and Rublev was both horrified by what Sinner went through and amazed by how the Italian handled it.
“You can't wish any player to go through this. I can't imagine the stress or anxiety he felt during this entire period. He managed very well, he continued to play at his best level and managed to dominate the circuit despite everything by winning titles. It's very impressive,” Rublev told Eurosport (translated from French).
Rublev on the Anti-Doping system
Rublev, much like many of his colleagues, isn't really content with the anti-doping system and the way it's being run at the moment. Daniil Medvedev talked about it, Novak Djokovic talked about it, and Holger Rune acknowledged that it makes him quite stressed, so Rublev is not the only player who has a bit of a problem with the system.
It's a very strict one, and the punishments are rather draconian, which some players like Jenson Brooksby know all too well because he was suspended from the sport for missing tests, not even testing positive for a substance.
For Rublev, it's a pretty simple proposition, and it seems to him that the system is set up in a way that makes it very easy for tennis players to lose their careers. Rules in tennis are rather strict, so that in itself isn't anything new, but the anti-doping system takes it to a new level.
“I think the anti-doping system should be a little more understandable. In tennis, the rules are super strict, more so than in other sports. I feel like every little mistake, even when it's unintentional, can threaten your career,” he added in the aforementioned interview.