Andrey Rublev played the final match of the Paris Masters Friday schedule, and as you can imagine, he wasn’t happy about it.
Have you ever heard of a player complaining about the Paris Masters schedule? You have? Well, add another name to that list as Andrey Rublev blasted the ATP in his post-match interview after beating Alex de Minaur.
The story is all too familiar as this was the last match of the schedule or rather the night session, meaning it would only begin after the previous matches had finished. As the precedent between Novak Djokovic and Holger Rune dragged on quite a bit, the players had to wait.
It doesn’t matter if there is a full court free and available in the complex; it was scheduled to take place on the larger field, although it was clear that the match would not end before midnight.
Tickets, revenue and more are the reason. Regardless, Rublev was not happy about finishing after midnight as he would be playing the next day around 4 p.m. local time against none other than the world number 1. 1 Djokovic.
It’s only about 12 hours after he goes to bed, which is far from ideal. He made his feelings on the matter known after the game, calling the schedule unbelievable.
(To fall asleep after a match like this) First of all I eat dinner, I take care of myself, I arrive at the hotel, I take a shower… I go to bed at 4, 5 o’clock? Mad. Great planning, thank you! I am on the ATP board and… ATP, we are together!
Rublev after beating de Minaur
He’s obviously not the only one criticizing the schedule this week, as many other players have done. We saw Jannik Sinner withdraw from the event because the schedule completely ignored the circumstances of his previous victory.
Wawrinka was another who criticized the ATP for their schedules despite finishing well after midnight. Rublev was actually quite lucky with how his match ended as it could have gone a bit longer. Regardless, he will face Djokovic a little later on Saturday, not even 24 hours later. Probably half.
