SYDNEY, January 19. /TASS/. Russian tennis star Andrey Rublev advanced on Friday to Round 4 of this year’s first Grand Slam tournament, the 2024 Australian Open, which kicked off last Sunday.
In a match that lasted just under two hours, the 5th-seeded Rublev defeated his opponent Sebastian Korda of the United States (seeded 29th) in straight sets - 6-2; 7-6 (8-6); 6-4.
At one point during the match, Rublev's emotions boiled over and he yelled out in frustration.
"My mind was getting a bit emotional," the tournament’s official website quoted Rublev as saying after his match with Korda.
"I screamed because I started to feel a little tight and I need to scream to let my emotions out," Rublev said. "Then I was lucky, I made an amazing job."
The Russian, who is playing at the tournament under a neutral status, will take on 10th-seeded Australian Alex de Minaur in the next round.
Speaking about his upcoming encounter against Alex de Minaur, Rublev said: "He is a super great player and such a nice guy, and hopefully we will have a great match and the spectators will enjoy, that’s the most important thing."
Rublev, 26, is currently ranked 5th in the ATP World Rankings and has 15 ATP tournament titles to his name, two of those wins coming this year. He has also appeared in numerous Grand Slam tournaments, albeit never advancing beyond the quarterfinals. Rublev took home the gold at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in mixed doubles (with teammate Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova) and also won the 2021 Davis Cup as part of the Russian national team.
The 2024 Australian Open tournament is being played on hard courts at Melbourne Park from January 14-28 and has a purse of $57.8 mln in prize money up for grabs. The opening tournament of the annual Grand Slam series in Australia marks its 112th edition this year. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka are the reigning Australian Open champions in men’s and women’s singles, respectively.
Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also cancelling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.
On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.
However, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.