Andrey Rublev fought through a shoulder problem and beat Nuno Borges 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 in the first round of the Monte-Carlo Masters on Monday, then said he had no idea how badly the injury might have bitten into the rest of his tournament.
Rublev took a medical timeout in the first set while struggling with the issue, but he still managed to close out the opener and later recover after a rough second set. The Russian said he used a “horse dose” of painkillers during the match and described the result as a mental victory, saying there was a moment when he thought it was over for him.
That is what made the win matter beyond the scoreline. Rublev, the 2023 Monte Carlo Masters champion, arrived in the match with the pressure of defending ground in a tournament where he has been one of the most recognizable contenders, and the shoulder problem briefly raised doubts about how far his run might go. He said the issue was already there earlier, but it became much worse after he went for a serve following the changeover at 4-3 and again after a long rally.
Rublev said the fight was as much inside his head as on the court. “Obviously, I think today was exactly a mental victory for me,” he said, explaining that he had to stop himself from assuming the worst when the pain spiked. He added that once he accepted the situation and kept playing without building a story around it, he was able to finish the first set, stop dwelling on the second, and eventually find a way back into the match.
The tension in the victory is that nobody knows yet what it cost him. Rublev said he would need five to six hours, or perhaps until the next day, to understand the extent of the injury after taking painkillers and receiving the timeout. That leaves the next round hanging over the result: he is set to face Zizou Bergs in the round of 32 on Tuesday, and the real question now is not whether Rublev can win matches in Monte-Carlo, but whether his shoulder will let him keep doing it.
