Rublev confident for 2025: "I feel better than at this time last year".

Andrey Rublev still believes in himself. The Russian, ranked 9th in the world, suffered his umpteenth Grand Slam disappointment at the Australian Open.

Facing João Fonseca in his first match in Melbourne, the two-time Masters 1000 winner was eliminated in three sets (7-6, 6-3, 7-6).

Despite this, Rublev, who will play in the Montpellier tournament next week, is ready for the season and feels capable of bouncing back quickly.

"To be honest, I feel good. I even feel better than I did this time last year after the Australian Open.

Of course, it's always disappointing to lose in the first round. But even so, I'm feeling better than when I started last season with a title in Hong Kong before reaching the quarter-finals in Melbourne.

Even though I lost my first match in Australia, I think my level is better this year. I'm going to keep working and I'm sure the results will come back.

Last year, I did some stupid things. I started the year very well in terms of results, but there were a lot of things I didn't do well.

In Hong Kong and at the Australian Open, I was playing really badly in my first few rounds. I was suffering in every match, missing a lot.

Nothing was working for me. I wasn't hitting the ball well, but I still managed to win some matches.

You could say that my opponents helped me a lot. This year, in the two matches I played, my level was quite high, especially for the first rounds.

This time, my opponents were better. When I say that to myself, I'm optimistic for the coming season," Rublev assured the More media in an interview.