{"id":232315,"date":"2026-01-11T08:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T08:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/232315\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T08:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T08:51:12","slug":"hong-kong-open-doubles-finalist-andrey-rublev-says-fewer-tournaments-just-an-illusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/232315\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong Open doubles finalist Andrey Rublev says fewer tournaments just \u2018an illusion\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Andrey Rublev has said there was no point in dreaming about \u201cthe ideal\u201d of tennis bosses listening to players and scaling back their bloated calendar.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">World No 16 Rublev, a 10-time grand slam quarter-finalist, finished last season feeling \u201cexhausted and burnt out\u201d after playing 26 tournaments across 15 countries and four continents.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">He ultimately drew a line under his campaign in October, but a season that began on December 27, 2024 climaxed with the ATP and Davis Cup finals in November, and the Next Gen finals from December 17 to 21.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">After two months off the tour treadmill and an off-season boot camp overseen by coaches including fellow Russian Marat Safin, Rublev has looked fresh and sharp at this week\u2019s Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">After contesting the match of the tournament, his almost three-hour singles semi-final defeat by No 1 seed Lorenzo Musetti on Saturday, Rublev almost immediately stepped back on court to partner Karen Khachanov to a doubles semi-final victory.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Andrey Rublev is an advocate for stripping back the bloated tennis calendar. Photo: Karma Lo\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/b46cf510-6950-4e94-8ba8-63363f9ce5a1_af241bd3.jpg\" title=\"Andrey Rublev is an advocate for stripping back the bloated tennis calendar. Photo: Karma Lo\"\/>Andrey Rublev is an advocate for stripping back the bloated tennis calendar. Photo: Karma Lo<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Despite the restorative effects of time away, Rublev said the prospect of the sport\u2019s chiefs condensing the season was as likely as his being able to \u201cnot lift a finger, rest for 24 hours every day and still be world No 1\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrey Rublev has said there was no point in dreaming about \u201cthe ideal\u201d of tennis bosses listening to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[118397,126285,118401,118395,7704,126282,3448,85,46,118386,118402,126281,126284,126280,105,126283],"class_list":["post-232315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-andrey-rublev","tag-atp","tag-atp-finals","tag-bank-of-china-hong-kong-tennis-open","tag-davis-cup","tag-fernando-vicente","tag-hong-kong","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-karen-khachanov","tag-lorenzo-musetti","tag-lorenzo-sonego","tag-marat-safin","tag-next-gen-finals","tag-sports","tag-victoria-park-tennis-stadium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}