Andrey Rublev reveals he avoided “amputation” by “hours” in post-US Open health scare

Andrey Rublev might be No. 7 on the Race to Turin, but it sounds like he is just trying to make it to the end of the season in one piece—literally.

There was plenty of concern, and a lot of questions, after Rublev recently revealed that he nearly didn’t travel to Asia at all due to a terrifying health scare.

Last week, the 26-year-old recounted how doctors told him there was “no chance” he could play in China—he’d been scheduled to go to Hangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai—after undergoing surgery for “some issues” that would require one month of recovery time.

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“They told me after the surgery that I might be lucky to be in Shanghai,” Rublev said. “And then I said, ‘Okay, if I might be lucky to be in Shanghai then there’s a chance to be in Beijing.’

“So here I am. No one (from my team) expected me to be here…”

Although Rublev has kept the details of his ordeal close to the vest, on Wednesday ahead of the Rolex Shanghai Masters he revealed the surgery was done to prevent the “amputation” of an unspecified limb.

"After the US Open I was preparing for China, and a couple of days before the flight I needed an operation, which, if not performed, could have led to amputation,” he said in Russian.

Speaking to BetBoom Tennis, the ATP’s official broadcast partner in Russia, Rublev revealed that he was only “hours” away from the worst case scenario.

“I was lucky that it all became clear in the first three or four hours, because after five or six hours, amputation becomes necessary,” he explained. “In the end, everything was done in time, and it ended better than expected.

“Before the operation, the prognosis was not very pleasant: That I would have to lie in bed for a month, that I would not be able to do anything. I am glad that I was able to come back quickly."

Rublev persevered, and after pulling out of Hangzhou he made his return to action in Beijing—where he took down Pablo Carreno Busta and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on his way to the quarterfinals.

But he’s not quite back to full fitness yet, Rublev says, later telling Bolshe that he’s hoping to play his way back into fitness one match at a time.

“(I hope) that I’ll be better tennis-wise, because I’ve already played one tournament and physically I’m feeling better. In Beijing, after the first match I barely got out of bed in the morning. Everything hurt, all the muscles and so on…”

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The ordeal marks Rublev’s second major health scare amid an up-and-down season. The Russian clinched his second ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid, and then checked into the hospital to treat inflammation in his throat and a swollen toe. The former turned out to be a tonsillar abscess, which restricted his airways so much that Rublev had to “eat baby food” during his Madrid preparations and required immediate treatment.

After receiving a clean bill of health, Rublev, the No. 6 seed in Shanghai, will face Jakub Mensik in the second round on Thursday.