Weekend Winners: Rublev takes Vienna while Millman wins in Nur-Sultan

If you’re like me, when you watch Andrey Rublev play, you look forward to two things: (1) His battering-ram ball-striking style, and (2) his viscerally heartfelt reactions to his successes and failures on court.

Over the course of a match, the Russian may tear at his shirt, gesture wildly at his coaches, slam his racquet down, and then celebrate a win by dropping to his knees and burying his face in his hands. With other players, all of this might seem overly theatrical, but not with the ultra-intense, always-sincere Rublev. When I watch him, I see someone acting out the emotions that every player feels during a match, but which we try to keep hidden. Tennis is a psychologically vicious game, and few players reveal its emotional depths the way the Russian does.

But what happens if Rublev is playing so well he doesn’t need to reveal anything at all? That’s what we saw during his 6-4, 6-4 win over Lorenzo Sonego in the Erste Open final in Vienna on Sunday.

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Yes, he pointed at his racquet strings angrily after missing a return. And yes, he spun around and shouted after shanking a forehand. And when it was over, he let out a roar. Other than that, though, this was Rublev at his most efficient and calmly confident. Even when he went down 15-40, double break point, while serving for the first set, he didn’t show any signs of nerves or frustration. He just went back to the battering ram and won the next four points for the set.

It’s not surprising that Rublev was confident that he could come back and win that service game: He wasn’t broken, and he didn’t drop a set, over the entire week in Vienna. This was his fifth title of 2020, which puts him one ahead of Novak Djokovic, and it qualified him for his first ATP year-end championship in London. These days, if it’s not a major or an ATP Masters 1000 event, you can pretty much guarantee that Rublev is going to be in the mix at the end of the week. He's won 19 of his last 20 matches and 15 straight at the ATP 500 level.

“I’m happy that I won the title here,” the 23-year-old said. “I’m happy that I will compete in London for the first time. There are still so many things I need to improve and it's going to be a good challenge for me to see what exactly I need to improve to be at that level, to be able to compete against the Top 8 players.”

“Clinical” is a word that we often use to describe Djokovic’s game. “Surgical” was the word that came to mind while watching Rublev in Vienna. He never wasted a shot or settled for a rally ball, and he seemed to know exactly what he wanted to do with every swing. He used his serve to set up his forehand. He used his forehand to force Sonego onto the defensive. And he finished points with one of the best close-out shots in the game today, his swing volley.

Rublev’s battering-ram style is entertaining, even without the emotional reactions. Afterward, though, he showed his sincerity again when he praised Sonego for improving his game, and assured him that he would come out on the winning end of some of their matches in the future.

“It’s just the beginning,” Rublev said to the Italian.

That may be true for Sonego, but it’s definitely true for Rublev. If things keep going as they are, we may see a lot less of him tearing his shirt, and lot more of him roaring in triumph.

“He’s still running, still chasing,” ATP commentator Nick Lester said as he watched John Millman track down a forehand and send it curving down the line for a winner on Sunday.

Lester sounded as if he was shaking his head in admiration while he uttered those words. If so, it would have been the appropriate reaction. What else could a tennis fan do after watching Millman’s marathon run to the title at the Astana Open in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, over the past five days?

On Friday, the No. 45-ranked Millman eked out a win over Tommy Paul, 7-5 in a third-set tiebreaker—to get there, Millman saved two match points at 3-5, and came back from 0-5 down in the tiebreaker. On Saturday, he survived another nail-biter, against Frances Tiafoe, 6-4 in the third set. And while his 7-5, 6-1 win over Adrian Mannarino in the final doesn’t sound all that arduous, the average rally length during the match was nine shots. But Millman kept running, kept chasing, and kept winning those long rallies. By the end, after 12 years on tour and more than 100 tournaments, the 31-year-old had won his first ATP title.

“It’s incredible, I’m so happy and relieved,” Millman said. “It’s just a pure moment of satisfaction. That was my third final; third time lucky, I guess. These things aren’t easy to win.”

In the minds of many fans, Millman probably qualifies as a “journeyman.” The Brisbane native has never been ranked higher than No. 33. He has a career record of 85-101. He thought about retiring because of injuries in 2011. He has logged thousands of miles on the ATP Challenger tour, and has reached one Grand Slam quarterfinal in 21 tries. His two moments in the spotlight came against Roger Federer: In 2018, he upset him at the US Open; at the Australian Open earlier this year (was it really earlier this year?), he almost did it again before falling in heartbreaking fashion in a fifth-set tiebreaker.

Still, when you watch Millman play, especially from up close, and you see his skill and effort, a better term than “journeyman” may come to mind: How about consummate professional? The Aussie isn’t blessed with killer power, but he maximizes everything he has. He wins by not missing. He wins by being fit. He wins by running everything down. He wins by building points to create openings. He wins by coming back from 0-5 down in third-set tiebreakers. He wins by sticking with it, through thick and thin, for 12 years.

What Millman shows us is just how good, as a player and an athlete, you have to be to be ranked 45th in the world. If he’s a journeyman, that word is a very high compliment indeed.