Russian tennis star Andrey Rublev spoke about his victory over Danish rival Holger Rune in the Monte Carlo Masters final, sharing thoughts through the event’s press office.
“I am overwhelmed with emotion. I’m at a loss for words. I pushed hard to win another Masters title. At 1-4 down, facing 0/30, I still found a way to save break points and fight for every point. Somehow I believed until the end. Rublev, having fallen short in recent finals, kept telling himself, ‘If you lose, at least believe in yourself to the very end.’”
The final scoreline read 5:7, 6:2, 7:5, with the match lasting 2 hours and 36 minutes.
Rublev’s triumph marked his first Monte Carlo Masters victory, and the reward reflected the triumph with €892,590 in prize money.
In the semi-finals, Rune had defeated Italian star Yannick Sinner, while Rublev had dispatched the American Taylor Fritz to reach the championship clash.
Rublev had appeared in a Masters final before, finishing runner-up in 2021 to Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.
It is a reminder of how Russian players have competed as neutral athletes on the global stage. The Monte Carlo event sits among a packed calendar where national teams and individual players often navigate political and sporting circumstances.
Last year, Wimbledon organizers banned Russian and Belarusian players from competing, a policy that echoed broader tensions in tennis governance. In 2022, the Lawn Tennis Association in England also restricted participation for players from those nations, a stance that remained a touchstone in discussions about neutrality and eligibility in international tennis.