World No.7 Andrey Rublev has revealed that he was forced to undergo surgery before the recent tournaments in China after experiencing a “weird feeling” in his body
World No.7 Andrey Rublev has revealed that he was forced to undergo surgery before the recent tournaments in China after experiencing a “weird feeling” in his body World No.7 Andrey Rublev has revealed that he was forced to undergo surgery before the recent tournaments in China after experiencing a “weird feeling” in his body
Andrey Rublev has revealed that he nearly lost a testicle after undergoing surgery to correct an unspecified medical problem.
The world No.7 was forced to go under the knife before flying out to China to compete in the China Open and Shanghai Masters. Rublev, who is known for his spectacular on-court meltdowns as much as his undoubted talent, went to hospital after experiencing a “weird feeling”.
He ended up signing a document which gave his permission for doctors to amputate one of his testicles. Thankfully, that procedure wasn’t required and the 26-year-old Russian has now expressed his gratitude after beating Alexandre Muller at the Stockholm Open.
“Now I feel perfect, everything went well,” he said. “I don’t know how to call it in a smart way but I can call it in a funny way: I almost lost my ball.”
He added: “I was super lucky because they say you have only five or six hours if the blood stops going there and then it’s amputation. I was lucky. I don’t know why I said, ‘Let’s go to hospital just to check why I feel a weird feeling.’
“They checked straight away and they took me as an emergency to do the surgery and then they were able to do the surgery in three or four hours after the first feeling I felt. So they were able to do everything good and in the end everything is great.
“The last thing before they made me sleep, I signed the paper saying they were allowed to amputate my ball – that was the last thing before the surgery that I saw.”
Andrey Rublev says he could’ve lost a testicle
(
Image:
Shi Tang/Getty Images)
Rublev was not sidelined for too long and has managed to continue competing at the top level. He reached the quarter finals of the China Open before being knocked out of the Shanghai Masters in the first round.
“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 told BetBoom Tennis.
“They told me after the surgery that I might be lucky to be in Shanghai. 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.”
Rublev’s health scare comes after a series of angry outbursts on the court which have seen him smash his racquet. He has previously said that he is working on controlling his anger.
“You work on it every day,” he said in December. “There are many things in life that are stressing us out and make us very angry. You can practise how to be calm when you want to explode everything. Then my coach has psychology lessons.”
Mirror – Sport
