After struggling with a depressive episode and turning to Safin for advice and help, Rublev took their relationship to the next level when he hired the Russian tennis icon as his coach in April. The trial period went well and they decided to continue throughout 2025 and continue the collaboration in 2026.
When Rublev added Safin to his team, the world number 16 made one brutally honest comment: He admitted he knew he would be dumped by the former two-time Grand Slam champion if he “didn’t listen or didn’t work hard enough.”
Now, in their first offseason together, the 17-time ATP champion is experiencing firsthand what it feels like to be trained by Safin.
Rublev: Safin is killing me… High intensity from the baseline and no mistakes
The Russian tennis star was a guest on the first episode of Greg Rusedski’s podcast and was asked how his off-season went.
“For me it’s crazy because now with Marat and the members of my team they are killing me. I can’t remember another year when they did this to me. It’s two and a half hours of fitness to start with. Then it’s two hours of tennis and he’s killing me. No mistakes from the baseline, high intensity from the baseline until you make it. This push is all for me. It’s always about yourself,” the 28-year-old told Rusedski.
Shortly after adding Safin to his team, Rublev came close to beating Hamburg, but fell behind Flavio Cobolli in the final. The world number 16 reached only one semi-final the rest of the year.
For 2026, one of Rublev’s biggest goals will be to finally get past the Grand Slam quarterfinals and return to the top 10.
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