Andrey Rublev Against Carlos Alcaraz: A Key Match to Be in the Semifinals | ATP Tour

It will be a dog’s face match. After Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev fell in their debuts at the Nitto ATP Finals (against Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev respectively), both will meet on Wednesday in a key match in their aspirations to qualify for the semifinals. of the final event of the season.

“Tomorrow is a new match,” Fernando Vicente, Rublev’s coach, told ATPTour.com. “I imagine that both [Andrey y Carlos] They will be thinking that they can win the next two games, with enthusiasm and desire. As we all know, there is a round robin format here, so they are all alive. Tomorrow will be a match as it should be: a great match between two great players. “We are hoping to win.”

Although they have shared training sessions on the ATP Tour, Rublev and Alcaraz have never faced each other, so tomorrow the Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry will be inaugurated.

“Each one has their own style of play,” Vicente warned. “In our case, I think Andrey has to play his game, the one he usually does, there is not much to say in this sense,” he added. “He is going to have to dominate from the back of the court and be aggressive, like he plays when he is good,” he reiterated.

“Carlos, we all know that he has a lot of variety in his game, he can serve-net, he can make return-net, he throws very good drop shots… We already expect all this, we expect a complicated and difficult match between two players of the highest level. We will have to see the mental part, how each one is, but little else.”

And the Pala Alpitour track in Turin? Can it benefit one more than the other?

“Andrey likes that there are exchanges,” Vicente revealed. “If you ask him, he really likes playing on clay because it is where he says he feels better and where the work of so many hours comes to light, he likes to feel like they are playing long points,” he continued. “The court is fast. I think it helps Andrey’s game a lot because the ball runs a lot. With his flat style of play, it is also difficult to keep up with him many times. It is not his favorite court, but let’s see. Maybe we can to think that maybe it is favorable for Andrey because of the type of track.”

Rublev, however, could have something important going for him: unlike Alcaraz, who is competing in the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time, the No. 5 is facing his fourth participation in a tournament that saw him reach the semifinals last year. past (lost to Casper Ruud). Does that add up?

“On the one hand I would say yes, but also no on the other,” reflected the No 5 coach. “In the end, experience is demonstrated in each game. There are people who reach three finals or four or five, but it doesn’t matter: they don’t win any and it’s a two-sided coin,” he continued. The fact that he has played more will not be decisive. Carlos is a player of an extraordinary level, he has played Grand Slam finals, so in this I do not think that experience is decisive,” he insisted. “Everything will be decided by moods, by whoever plays the bravest and whoever does what they have to do. Every day is a new game.”