After overcoming a suspected illness and an anesthetized foot, Andrey Rublev defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6 7-5 7-5 to win the Madrid Open. However, he later disclosed that he will need to go back to the hospital in order to fully heal.
The 26-year-old Russian battled off a wobble in the first set to win his second Masters 1000 title in less than three hours.
In a news conference, Rublev revealed: “I’m still sick and tomorrow I think I’ll go back to the hospital for a full check-up to know exactly what’s going on,” Rublev told a news conference.”
“I’ve been sick for eight or nine days now, it’s not normal, I’m not really getting better, which is strange because usually I get sick for two or three days at the most and maybe a fever, but nothing special. This is the first time in my life that I feel this bad,” he added.
Rublev on recovery
The athlete admitted that he needed an anaesthetic to be able to successfully finish the finals.
Rublev declared: “They put an anesthetic in the finger on my foot because somehow it got inflamed and started to get bigger and the pressure started to be on the bone and I can’t even put on my shoe… The feeling was similar to when you broke it, so they put an anesthetic on it so I didn’t feel it and at least I could play without thinking.”
He entered the Madrid tournament in an unfortunate condition after dropping his first four tour matches. Rublev then defeated American Taylor Fritz in the semifinals and defeated second-seeded and home favorite Carlos Alcaraz.
“I think it is normal to have ups and downs, but my focus now is to keep working and trying to improve. I think I showed a great level of tennis from the first match and in the end I was able to win the title…Now I think the most important thing is to try and recover and be ready for Rome,” he said.
Cover Photo: IG
Source: CNA
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