Rublev: 'We're Going To Try To Improve & Do Better Next Year'

  • Posted: Dec 29, 2020

Russian Andrey Rublev was voted the Most Improved Player of the Year in the 2020 ATP Awards by his fellow players following an impressive season in which he cracked the Top 10 of the FedEx ATP Rankings for the first time.

“Thank you so much for all the votes,” Rublev said. “This trophy goes to you for all your support and we’re going to try to improve and do better next year.”

The 23-year-old rose from No. 23 to a career-high No. 8 this year thanks to a scorching-hot campaign in which he led the ATP Tour with five titles. Entering the season, the Russian owned two tour-level trophies.

Rublev exploded onto the courts at the start of the year by winning back-to-back titles at the Adelaide International and the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, becoming the first player since Dominik Hrbaty in 2004 to begin the year with titles in the first two weeks of the season. He continued to impress in the second half of the season by reaching quarter-finals at the US Open and Roland Garros. The two-time Next Gen ATP Finals competitor claimed three ATP 500 trophies with victories at the Hamburg European Open, St. Petersburg Open and Erste Bank Open (Vienna).

The big-hitting righty capped off his best season to date with his debut appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals. He finished with a 41-10 win-loss record on the year, equalling Novak Djokovic (41-5) with the most match wins on Tour in 2020. Ugo Humbert, Diego Schwartzman and Jannik Sinner were also nominated in this category. Rublev’s coach, Fernando Vicente, was named Coach of the Year in the 2020 ATP Awards.

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