WATCH: Andrey Rublev opens up about emotions and internet memes in epic interview

Andrey Rublev got real in a 60-minute interview that dropped just in time for Christmas.

“This year is the first one where I felt like a Top 5 player,” he tells Sofya Tartakova, a tennis journalist who also serves as the world No. 5’s PR manager. “I’m not on the level of players like Danya [Medvedev], Sinner, Djokovic, and Alcaraz—I might play well against them sometimes, even win, but most of the time, they beat me and their season is more consistent than mine—but against players lower-ranked than me, this year I was more consistent and had better results.

“In the last months I really believe and understand that No. 5 is not an accident, but because I have the game for that.”

Despite her close connection to Rublev, Tartakova has earned a sterling reputation as one of the toughest interviewers in tennis, and holds nothing back in asking the nine-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist about his finances and on-court behavior—even reading the dictionary definition of self-harm when discussing Rublev’s penchant for hitting himself out of frustration.

“Of course, I make mistakes,” Rublev concedes. “There are ugly emotional outbursts…because the desire overwhelms me. You get hooked on it: ‘I want, I want, I want, I need, I need,’ and you can’t hear or see anything. The reality doesn’t match the desire and you start to panic.

“That panic manifests itself in inadequate emotions, when then becomes internet memes,” he concludes with a laugh, referencing a moment at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia where he repeatedly yelled, “How many times?” at the umpire—inspiring his sister to get the quote as a tattoo.

Rublev reveals he has begun seeing a psychologist, to which Tartakova exclaims, “Four years ago, Andrey Andreyevich Rublev was saying he knows tennis better than any specialist!”

“Partly, that is so,” Rublev responds. “But there are other circumstances that exist outside the court. Back then, some of them I hadn’t faced yet. Some I faced and managed to get over them. I had two injuries. I didn’t learn anything from the first one; only from the second, I made the right conclusions and it helped me progress much faster.

“There are always problems, and if you don’t know how to resolve them—whether that involves parents, friends, or improving relations in your private life—when it starts to stress you out, it shows on court. Everything is connected, and a psychologist can help you get through moments like that, to understand how better to accept yourself, work on your own traits and improve your relationships…you start to grow.”

Click here to check out the full interview, in which Rublev analyzes his closest competitors, his growing fashion line, and what he hopes to improve to make the next steps in his career.