A top ten fan controversy and brings up Jannik Sinner
A top ten fan controversy and brings up Jannik Sinner
In the world of sports, particularly tennis, it is frustrating not to be a crowd favorite. Novak Djokovic knows this very well, and although he has been world No. 1 more than anyone else, he has always suffered from the greater popularity and affection of tennis fans for Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and has tried hard to make himself loved, succeeding only partially.
Now there is another top ten tennis player who, more than unloved, feels ignored and little known by people despite the fact that he is currently number 7 in the world, either because he is Russian, thus belonging to the country that attacked Ukraine and thus, although he is obviously not directly to blame, is seen as smoke in the eyes in the tennis world, or because he does not have a game that particularly distinguishes him from others and also because he is not particularly likable on the court: Andrey Rublev.
The 25-year-old Moscow native participated in Tennis Weekly’s podcast by making, shall we say, somewhat haughty statements, reported by Corriere dello Sport, aimed at fans and bringing up some of his colleagues, including Jannik Sinner: “I don’t know how it is possible but people still call me Zverev, Sinner, Shapovalov or Tsitsipas. Almost all of them. At least when I was in the top 50 and people confused me with Zverev, there was nothing wrong with that because he and Tsitsipas were more famous. But now I’m seventh in the world rankings,” Andrey Rublev stressed, “people keep confusing me with them; nothing has changed.
Perhaps, instead of bringing up people like Shapovalov or Sinner, who, moreover, in the rankings is right behind him and therefore is certainly not an unknown emeritus, Rublev should start asking himself some questions about the way he presents himself on the court and perhaps become a tennis player with a slightly brighter game than the boring boom-bust that currently characterizes him. That way some more sympathy and someone who remembers him would earn it….
