Emergency operation on Andrei Rublev
The dramatic hours of a tennis star
Andrei Rublev underwent abdominal surgery in Barcelona – just in time. In Basel, as the top seed, he fights against the competition and his own demons.
“Everyone has their own battles to fight,” says Andrei Rublev. Now the hothead is trying meditation.
Foto: Chryslene Caillaud (Imago/Panoramic)
- Andrei Rublev suffered a testicular torsion after the US Open.
- He had to undergo emergency surgery and was very lucky.
- The Russian struggles with emotional outbursts and tries meditation.
- He works with a sports psychologist to improve himself emotionally.
You know it. Suddenly something hurts and you think: Oh, it’s not worth going to the doctor, the pain will go away. This is what happened to Andrei Rublev after he returned to his training base in Barcelona after the US Open. He came from the gym one morning and sat for five minutes before tennis practice checking his cell phone when he felt a twinge in his abdomen and the pain moved down to his genital area. A most unpleasant feeling.
“It came out of nowhere and I thought: I’ll just wait a bit, it’ll go away again,” says the Russian at the Swiss Indoors. «So I waited and waited, but the stinging didn’t go away. I tried to play a little tennis, but I could barely move. It didn’t make any sense. So we broke off.” His team advised him to go to the hospital for a check-up, but he initially declined. It’s not that bad now. But then he allowed himself to be convinced and driven to the hospital.
Straight to emergency surgery
The 27-year-old explains the whole thing as calmly as if he were explaining his recipe for a chocolate cake. Now things are getting dramatic: “When they examined me, they took me straight to emergency surgery. Because the blood no longer flowed to my testicles.” The testicles and spermatic cord were twisted, blocking blood flow to the testicles.
The medical term for this is testicular torsion, and it’s not something to be trifled with. This was immediately made clear to Rublev in the hospital. “I was very lucky because if you wait five or six hours, the testicles die,” he explains.
With a hint of a smile, Rublev continues: “Before they put me under general anesthesia, I had to sign a statement that I would agree to have my testicles removed if something went wrong.” He signed and was sent to the realm of dreams.
When he woke up again after a few hours, he got the good news: the operation was a success. The next day he was able to leave the hospital again. Because of the scar, he had to be a little careful for a few days so that nothing became infected. Two weeks later he flew to the next tournament in Beijing.
Since everything went well, he can tell the whole thing calmly, says Rublev. “But of course it wasn’t funny. A pretty weird story.” In the worst case, his ability to have children would even have been impaired. And Rublev likes children and is the idol of Alicia, the one-year-old daughter of Daniil Medvedev, the other Russian in the top 10.
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Rublev himself has no plans to start a family. His focus is on finding himself as a tennis player and better controlling his emotions on and off the court. Because he is known for his spectacular outbursts of anger. When he last week lost in Stockholm against the unleashed Stan Wawrinkahe thrashed wildly with his racket. But that was still harmless by his standards.
At the 2023 ATP Finals in Turin, he bloodied his knee with his racket in the game against Carlos Alcaraz and had to be treated. In Dubai in April this year he was disqualified in the final stages of his semi-final against Alexander Bublik because he had shouted at a linesman in his frustration.
On tour, Rublev is considered amiable, but he often loses his nerve in the heat of battle. He later apologized for his outburst of anger in Dubai with a video message on social media. “It is unacceptable to shout at other people. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a linesman or a spectator. And it doesn’t matter whether the other person was right or wrong. I’m very sorry.” He hopes to learn lessons from this and improve.
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In the summer he talked about it with Marat Safin, who was also a hothead but was able to control himself in important phases, winning two Grand Slam titles and even briefly becoming No. 1. Rublev, on the other hand, often loses his nerve in crucial moments. Although he has been in the top 10 for several years and can accelerate the ball with his forehand like few others, he has never won a Grand Slam quarterfinal. He got this far ten times and lost ten times.
He tries to calm down
“I’m still trying to find my way,” he says in Basel. “It is not easy. Every person has their battles to fight. I try to develop habits to become calmer in everyday life. For example through meditation. If you feel bad in your normal life, you will also feel bad in your job. When you are at peace with yourself, it has a positive effect on everything. It’s all connected.”
On the pitch, Andrei Rublev’s frustration comes to the surface. Here in Stockholm in the match against Stan Wawrinka.
Photo: Anders Wiklund (TT News Agency via AP)
In pressure situations on the court, everything comes to the surface for Rublew. And while he tries to generally feel more comfortable in his own skin, he analyzes his matches with a sports psychologist. «We talk about what I felt in certain situations. Why I was frustrated and how I can improve emotionally. And I’m now trying to get something positive out of even my worst matches.”
It’s always a matter of opinion how you judge things. In a season with few highlights, Rublev is still number 7 in the world and is well on his way to qualifying for the ATP final of the top eight for the fifth time in a row. And perhaps the recent shock and his successful emergency operation will help him to put things in perspective in the future when he misses an important ball again.
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