Andrey Rublev competed at the China Open against the odds (Image: Getty)
Andrey Rublev has revealed that he almost did not travel for the Asian swing as he was told he may need to have a limb amputated.
It has been a rollercoaster of a season for the Russian. He won his second ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid earlier this year before heading to hospital with inflammation in his throat, which was diagnosed as a tonsillar abscess.
Rublev has now had his second health scare of the year, though the details of the ordeal have been kept to a minimum by the 26-year-old. He went under the knife last week to undergo preventative surgery, which was expected to rule him out of the trip to Asia.
However, Rublev bounced back to fitness almost immediately and reached the quarter-finals of the China Open and is now eyeing success in Shanghai. He said: “They told me after the surgery that I might be lucky to be in Shanghai.
“Then I said, ‘Okay, if I might be lucky to be in Shanghai then there’s a chance to be in Beijing.’ So here I am. No one (from my team) expected me to be here.”
Rublev was initially expected to be sidelined for a month, though it could have been a completely different story for the Russian if an ‘issue’ was not addressed as quickly as possible.
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Andrey Rublev has opened up on how he wasn’t expected to compete in Asia (Image: Getty)
Speaking to , Rublev has revealed that he faced a part of his body being amputated if it was not treated within a matter of hours.
He explained: “After the US Open I was preparing for China, and a couple of days before the flight I needed an operation, which, if not performed, could have led to amputation.
Andrey Rublev has endured a rollercoaster of a season (Image: Getty)
“I was lucky that it all became clear in the first three or four hours, because after five or six hours, amputation becomes necessary. In the end, everything was done in time, and it ended better than expected.
“Before the operation, the prognosis was not very pleasant: That I would have to lie in bed for a month, that I would not be able to do anything. I am glad that I was able to come back quickly.”
Rublev’s presence at the Shanghai Masters will feel like a win for the sixth seed given the circumstances, and he will kick off his bid for glory when he faces Jakub Mensik in the second round this weekend.