Novak Djokovic Proudly Backs Andrey Rublev Following His Iconic ATP Qatar Triumph

They call me Picasso!” Rublev’s 2025 season didn’t start the way he had hoped. He crashed out in the first round of the AO, losing to Joao Fonseca in straight sets and although he made it to the QF in Rotterdam, he fell to Hubert Hurkacz despite winning the first set there. At the Open Occitanie, however, he reached the semis and when he arrived in Qatar, eventually everything seemed to fall into place! From his R32 match onward, Rublev was on a mission. He navigated through the draw with confidence, even overcoming a tight SF battle against Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime. Then came the ultimate test, a final showdown against Britain’s Jack Draper, where Rublev held a 3-0 head-to-head advantage before coming to the match. And what a final it was!

Despite Draper’s fierce start, Rublev edged out the first set and won 7-5. The Brit, however, roared back in the second set, grinding out a 7-5 win of his own to force a decider in the third. But when it mattered most, the 27-year-old Russian flipped the switch. He dominated the third set 6-1, firing 34 winners across the match and wrapping up the battle in just two hours and six minutes. And, with this emphatic victory, the recently promoted 10th rank clinched his second Doha title, after 2020, as he extended his head-to-head record against Draper to 4-0 as well! And right after the match, Novak Djokovic stepped in, sharing his heartfelt congratulations for Rublev once joked in 2023 while unveiling his ‘holiday-themed’ wrapping job on his tennis racquet. Back then, as a 12-time tour-level champion, the Russian surely had aspirations of becoming tennis’ own Picasso. Fast forward to yesterday, and the World No. 10 turned his artistry into dominance, clinching his second Doha title with a commanding victory over Jack Draper! And, his masterpiece on the court didn’t go unnoticed as none other than 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, a tennis Picasso himself, shared his heartfelt congratulations for the newly crowned winner of the Qatar Open.

Rublev’s 2025 season didn’t start the way he had hoped. He crashed out in the first round of the AO, losing to Joao Fonseca in straight sets and although he made it to the QF in Rotterdam, he fell to Hubert Hurkacz despite winning the first set there. At the Open Occitanie, however, he reached the semis and when he arrived in Qatar, eventually everything seemed to fall into place! From his R32 match onward, Rublev was on a mission. He navigated through the draw with confidence, even overcoming a tight SF battle against Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime. Then came the ultimate test, a final showdown against Britain’s Jack Draper, where Rublev held a 3-0 head-to-head advantage before coming to the match. And what a final it was!

Despite Draper’s fierce start, Rublev edged out the first set and won 7-5. The Brit, however, roared back in the second set, grinding out a 7-5 win of his own to force a decider in the third. But when it mattered most, the 27-year-old Russian flipped the switch. He dominated the third set 6-1, firing 34 winners across the match and wrapping up the battle in just two hours and six minutes. And, with this emphatic victory, the recently promoted 10th rank clinched his second Doha title, after 2020, as he extended his head-to-head record against Draper to 4-0 as well! And right after the match, Novak Djokovic stepped in, sharing his heartfelt congratulations for Rublev