Sixth seed Andrey Rublev conceded that he was not on his best behaviour after he suffered a shocking loss in the third round of the French Open 2024 on Friday, May 31. Rublev was knocked out by World No. 35 Matteo Arnaldi of Italy in straight sets at Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
The Russian star was visibly frustrated as he smashed the racquet on the court, and hit his legs with it before kicking the courtside bench.
Rublev conceded that it was his worst behaviour at a Grand Slam event, acknowledging that he allowed Matteo Arnaldi to dominate the match in the last two sets completely. Rublev lost to Arnaldi 6-7 (6), 2-6, 4-6 in two hours and 33 minutes with the Italian sealing his first Grand Slam win over a top 10 player.
“I was completely disappointed with myself the way I behaved, the way I performed, and I don’t remember behaving worse on a Slams ever. I think it was the first time I ever behaved that bad. Not much to say,” Rublev said after the match on Friday.
“I think it’s not about concentration. I think it’s because the way I behave I put myself completely down, and I give Matteo wings to fly, and he was flying third set unbelievably. It was too late to do something.”
Rublev and Arnaldi were going toe-to-toe in the opening set of the third-round match. However, Arnaldi dragged Rublev to the tie-breaker. The Russian star, who has reached as many as 10 Grand Slam quarter-finals without ever going further, had a set point in the tie-breaker, but he fluffed it and lost the opening set.
Arnaldi and Rublev exchanged breaks in the second set, but the 23-year-old Italian pushed ahead, showcasing incredible defence. Rublev was not able to hit his forehand winners as he allowed the disappointment of losing the close first-set play on his mind.
“The first set was very important for me, because you know I’m not the favourite so going after a set like this down one set to love it’s never easy. “It is incredible, I mean I think I played the best tennis for sure in my life I would say,” Arnaldi said.
Arnaldi will next face the winner of another third-round match between Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas and China’s Zhang Zhizhen.
