Andrey Rublev recalled an awkward moment when a group of French Open fans thought he was a different top player.
Andrey Rublev admitted he had an explicit response for some fans who thought he was Jannik Sinner (Image: TV Start / @AnnaK_4ever)
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Andrey Rublev has confessed to giving some Italian tennis fans an explicit response when they confused him for fellow pro Jannik Sinner. The world No 8 said he encountered the fans during the French Open, with the young Italian being one of many players he was often mistaken for.
Rublev has enjoyed a successful season as he won four titles and broke new ground at the ATP Finals in his last event of the year, reaching the semi-final. The 25-year-old has become something of a mainstay in the world’s top 10 as he has not dropped out since making his debut more than two years ago, but it seems some fans still aren’t 100 per cent certain on who he is.
The Russian revealed that he gets mistaken for a whole host of other players around his age, but had arguably his most surprising encounter at the French Open where he was unable to convince a group of fans that he wasn’t world No 15 Sinner. “I get mistaken for a lot of players – Shapovalov, and Zverev, and Tsitsipas, and Sinner,” the 12-time title winner told TV Start.
“In Paris, at Roland Garros, some Italian fans saw me and were like, ‘Sinner! Sinner!’ I told them I’m not Sinner,” Rublev recalled. Recounting their conversation, he continued: ‘No, you are Sinner!’ – ‘I’m not Sinner, I promise!’ They were like, ‘No, why are you lying to us? May we take a picture with you?’”
Jannik Sinnr and Andrey Rublev coincidentally faced off at this year’s French Open (Image: Getty)
But the fans ended up leaving without a photo with Rublev whether or not they realised who he was, as the 25-year-old ended up becoming frustrated with the Italian supporters and resorted to an X-rated response, joking that it would have given the fans a poor impression of Sinner.
“I told them once again I’m not Sinner and asked them to let me go. They became pretty agitated and I showed the middle finger to them. So, it looks like Sinner disappointed them,” he laughed. Rublev and Sinner coincidentally faced off in the fourth round of the French Open this year, where the Italian retired with injury.
And it’s not the first time Rublev has shared his frustrations over being compared to the 21-year-old either, as fellow Russian Daniil Medvedev revealed it was a recurring joke two years ago. “Andrey gets really, really angry if you call him Jannik because he looks like Jannik Sinner a little bit,” the world No 7 revealed during an appearance on Tennis United.
Andrey Rublev was forced to give some French Open fans the middle finger (Image: Getty)
“During the US Open he comes into the locker room and I said, ‘Hi Jannik, how are you?’ He got angry, he went away for 10 minutes, came back 10 minutes later, and goes, ‘You are Davydenko then!’”
I thought ‘What [am] I doing there?’” he joked when asked what he thought when he saw his Red Group rivals. “Why I am in this group?” But he more than proved himself by defeating Tsitsipas and Medvedev to advance to the last-four for the first time, where he ultimately lost to Casper Ruud.
