Andrey Rublev's time to win a grand slam will come, predicts Mark Petchey
Former tennis player Mark Petchey has touted Andrey Rublev for Grand Slam glory in the future.
At 25 years of age, Rublev has already enjoyed plenty of success on the ATP tour, with 12 singles titles to his name. However, he is yet to win a Grand Slam. In fact, he has never been past the quarterfinals at a Major.
Petchey believes there should be a lot more talk about Rublev when it comes to future Grand Slam champions. His reasoning was that there are currently more opportunities to win Majors given the 'Big 4' of tennis have either retired or are in decline.
"I think there probably should be a little bit more chatter because we are going to have more opportunities right now. I mean, we obviously know the Big Four, some have departed, some are still there, some are still struggling to some degree. So, there's no question that you are going to see at the backend of Majors, more opportunities that we have ever seen the last 15 or 20 years," Petchey told Tennis Channel.
The 52-year-old added that Rublev's time will come and that anything can happen if and when he breaks his quarterfinal hoodoo.
"So, a guy like Rublev has got to think that that quarterfinal spot which he has been stuck on a number of times already in the course of his career since 2017 US Open, that he is going to get further than that. And if he gets further than that, then anything is possible, I do think his time will come," Petchey concluded.
"I think he can be" - Christopher Eubanks on Andrey Rublev being a future Grand Slam winner
Christopher Eubanks was present with Mark Petchey during the discussion and was also asked whether Andrey Rublev could become a future Grand Slam champion.
Eubanks agreed with Petchey and believes the Russian has the "tools" to win a Major.
"I think he can be," he said. "I think the key part of what Petch said is that these next few years are going to be very different than the last 15-20 years, it's going to be a lot of parody among Grand Slam champions. I think Andrey Rublev has the tools, has to game to, at some point put together a spectacular two weeks and win a Grand Slam," Eubanks said.
Andrey Rublev is currently competing at the Monte-Carlo Masters and booked his place in the third round with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Jaume Munar. He will face either ninth seed Karen Khachanov or Ilya Ivashka next.