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Andrey Rublev has given an unusual assessment of his upcoming ATP Finals matches against Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev as he compared facing them to being \u201ckilled\u201d. The world No 5 will open his campaign against Medvedev on Monday but also has Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev in his round-robin group.<\/p>\n
Rublev is coming into his fourth ATP Finals full of form, winning 11 of his last 14 matches. The 26-year-old recently reached his fourth Masters 1000 final in Shanghai and followed it up with back-to-back semi-final appearances in Vienna and Paris.<\/p>\n
He will now be hoping to carry his momentum into Turin, where he reached the semi-final stage 12 months ago. But he will have a tough task trying to get out of the group stage as he faces Medvedev in his opening match with Alcaraz also looming. While Rublev has never faced the two-time Grand Slam champion, he knows Medvedev very well both on and off the court.<\/p>\n
The pair are good friends, with Rublev being the godfather to Medvedev\u2019s daughter Alisa, and they have also played eight times in the past. And Rublev had an amusing explanation for what it was like to take on his compatriot on the match court. \u201cIt’s like, when someone kills you slowly you know,\u201d he told the ATP, laughing.<\/p>\n
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive tennis news<\/strong><\/p>\n Just in <\/strong> Stefanos Tsitsipas brutally dug out as bleak Australian Open prediction made[LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYou feel it, that you are dying.\u201d While he is yet to meet Alcaraz on the match court, Rublev still had an idea of what it would feel like in comparison to playing Medvedev. He added: \u201cNot if Alcaraz kills you first and sometimes you don\u2019t notice. With Medvedev, he\u2019s killing you slowly. Taking his time. Enjoying the moment and you feel like you are dying, little by little.\u201d<\/p>\n Rublev will finally get a chance to compete against Alcaraz during the round-robin stage this week, where he can put his unique theory to the test. The world No 5 also had some regular analysis on the Spaniard\u2019s game, claiming he could do it all.\u00a0<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/72\/590x\/secondary\/Medvedev-Alcaraz-5062692.jpg?r=1699829835217\")
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