Rublev on the Sonego affair: "If he'd been in my shoes, he'd have done the same thing".

The sequence caused quite a stir. Andrey Rublev, who played in Metz last week, caused a stir by withdrawing before his second match.

Having beaten defending champion Lorenzo Sonego, the Russian had preferred to play the match before withdrawing. Claiming an injury, everyone understood the real reason for his withdrawal: with Novak Djokovic's withdrawal officially qualifying him for the Masters, he didn't want to prolong his adventure in France.

Sonego was understandably unhappy with this decision, and his defeat at the hands of Rublev, who was already thinking about Turin, was difficult to digest.

Beaten by Alexander Zverev in his first group match in Turin (6-4, 6-4), Rublev was asked about it and was unquestionably frank: "I understand Lorenzo's feelings, but everything is relative. I went to the Moselle Open to qualify for the Masters. He knew that.

He understood it, as did the tournament organizers. So, when the rumours of Djokovic's withdrawal started to spread, Casper, Alex and I waited. If Djokovic had made his absence official earlier, we wouldn't be involved in these tournaments.

But 'Nole' announced it on the day of my match. So I decided to play, because some fans had paid for their tickets. I'm sure that if Sonego had been in my shoes, he would have done the same thing."