Andrey Rublev couldn’t stop laughing when asked about new coach Marat Safin in a bizarre interview after his Monte-Carlo Masters victory against Gael Monfils on Wednesday. The Russian has called on his compatriot to coach him through the European clay court season and they enjoyed a winning start to their partnership on the Court des Princes.
Safin is a former world No. 1, winning the US Open in 2000 and the Australian Open in 2005 before retiring from professional tennis four years later. Rublev has expressed his desire for the partnership to last longer than the clay court campaign but doesn’t know whether his coach will “enjoy it or suffer”. Following his round-of-32 win against Monfils, Tennis Channel interviewer Prakash Amritraj couldn’t get much out of the world No. 9 when enquiring about the exciting link-up.
After asking Rublev whether he was enjoying it so far, he could only reply, “Yeah, yeah. I don’t know”, before bursting into a fit of laughter.
Amritraj, laughing along, asked follow-up questions to no avail before Rublev interrupted his efforts as he attempted to formulate an answer.
“No, obviously, sorry to interrupt you. I have to say something. Obviously… I forgot what I was going to say,” the 27-year-old said before laughing again.
He finally composed himself to explain: “Marat is helping me a lot. He has already helped me with a few things.
“So yeah, I don’t know. For sure, the energy is in the right direction. I think there are things I’m doing better. I’m on a better path, so let’s see.
“It’s only week one, and it’s our first official match together, so let’s see how it goes in two or three months.”
Rublev offered a more sufficient assessment two days earlier while speaking to the ATP website, expressing his admiration for the Russian icon.
“First of all, Marat is someone that has inspired me since I was a kid,” Rublev hailed.
“Then obviously, he has known me since I was a kid, and I’ve known him since I was a kid, and later on, I started to get to know him more.
“He was just an amazing person and then he’s been through many tough things.
“He had his own struggles that he went through, and I was always afraid to ask [about] those things, but inside, I always wanted [to].
“And in the end, when I found out that he was also ready and he was looking maybe to work in tennis, it was like ‘Okay, I have to at least [try]’. Maybe it’s not me, but at least I have to ask.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk