Andrey Rublev still on a high from Olympic mixed doubles gold
"To win a gold medal for your country is something you can only dream about," said the seventh-ranked Russian.
WATCH: Andrey Rublev defeats Lloyd Harris at Wimbledon.
Andrey Rublev is looking for more tour success following his mixed doubles victory at the Olympics, though he admits it'll be tough to top winning a gold medal.
The 23-year-old Russian, playing with with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, captured the mixed doubles in Toyko in an all-Russian final against Aslan Karatsev and Elena Vesnina.
"To win a gold medal for your country is something you can only dream about," Rublev told press from Toronto, where he is competing in the Masters 1000 event this week. "Even when you're a kid you're already reading about Olympic Games. Then when you are growing up you start to understand what it is... then you start to think, maybe one day I hope I can compete—and to win a gold medal, it's something that it's unreal."
Rublev now turns his attention back to tour competition, where he has also been on a roll. The big-hitting baseliner won five titles in 2020 and captured his fourth 500-level tournament in a row at Rotterdam this season. But he's still looking for his first Masters-level tournament win.
"I'm even more motivated," said Rublev. "I'm looking forward to come back to individual sport. Since Wimbledon, I didn't play ATP Tour."
And though he's playing for himself this week, he'll still get a bit of the Olympic atmosphere, with teammates like Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov also in the field.
"First of all, here is a bubble so we spend again time with the guys, with Daniil, with Karen," he noted. "We are good friends on tour."