"Rafael Nadal is the best athlete of all time in all disciplines" - Andrey Rublev
Rafael Nadal's achievements in the tennis realm are awe-inspiring, to say the least. The 36-year-old continues to break records to this day; earlier this year, he battled pain and injury on his way to a record-extending 14th French Open and 22nd Grand Slam title.
It's not surprising then that Nadal's peers think very highly of him. Speaking in a YouTube video filmed at a tennis academy in Barcelona, Andrey Rublev called the Spaniard "the best athlete of all time in all disciplines."
"Rafael Nadal is the best athlete of all time in all disciplines," Rublev said, when asked what made Nadal special.
Andrey Rublev says Rafael Nadal is the best athlete of all time in all disciplines. https://t.co/77BMB5ANUU
Rublev, who got the better of Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Monte-Carlo Masters last year, also spoke about what made the surface at Wimbledon different and how it impacted a player's game.
"The ball bounces differently off it, sometimes in askew trajectory and higher than as compared to other surfaces. That's where real tennis begins," said Rublev. "What's important is your thinking, physique, agility, stamina, how smart you play and what combos you choose."
Rublev's coach Fernando Vicente also gave viewers an insight into what a typical day's training schedule looked like for the Russian.
"So it's going to be for half an hour. Fifteen minutes of work and fifteen minutes of rest," Vicente said.
"It's the same thing over and over," Rublev added with a grin.
The World No. 8, who missed Wimbledon due to the tournament's ban on Russian players, disclosed that he did try to convince officials he would do all that was required to convey an anti-war message.
"We wanted to use the platform of the Championship to show that we don't fight here, that there's no war in tennis. It's most important now. But I kept getting the same answer. The Russian government is going to use our results for propaganda," Rublev said.
Andrey Rublev got third-time lucky against Rafael Nadal in Monte-Carlo last year
Andrey Rublev was just 19 years old when he faced Rafael Nadal for the first time, in the quarterfinals of the 2017 US Open. The Russian, considered a tennis prodigy then, failed to counter Nadal's precision and lost 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour and a half.
The two met again in the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals in London, with Rublev managing to hold his own in the initial stages of the encounter. But the debutant threw his racquet to the ground in frustration as Nadal finally broke his serve in the sixth game.
Rublev was broken again in the first game of the second set after having lost the first, finally going down 6-3, 6-4.
However, the Russian pulled one back when the duo met for the third time in Monte Carlo last year, as he beat the 11-time champion 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Rublev went on to lose to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the tournament.
At the 2003 US Open, Nadal's first at age 17, his very first match was a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win vs 26-year-old compatriot Fernando Vicente. On Friday, Vicente sat court-side coaching Andrey Rublev, who joined Djokovic, Coria, Ferrer & Fognini as only ones to beat Nadal in Monte Carlo. https://t.co/88zaa7sDgp