Rublev at Montpellier: "I'm here because the start of the year wasn't good".

Andrey Rublev received a last-minute wild-card entry to the ATP 250 in Montpellier.

After a very disappointing start to the season, marked by a first-round loss to Joao Fonseca at the Australian Open, the Russian was keen to follow up with a tournament to gain confidence and playing time.

Winning his first round match in Montpellier in two sets against Christopher Eubanks, he declared, in comments relayed by Tennis Actu: "Of course, I want to win matches and get back into a good rhythm.

I'm here because the start of the year hasn't been good, with two defeats in as many matches. I trained well during the pre-season and I'm losing.

I trained again for two weeks and lost. If I hadn't come to Montpellier, I'd have been training for another three weeks.

Sometimes it's complicated to do just that. Sometimes, playing too much is also complicated and exhausting.

But it's the same when all you do is train. Mentally, it's not the best thing; we want to get back to the excitement of tournaments.

That went well. We'll see afterwards.

The aim is to stay disciplined on the court, to find a good balance. If I can do that, the rest should follow.