Russia’s world No. 15 Karen Khachanov has shed light on why he and fellow countryman Andrey Rublev withdrew from the doubles draw at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome.
“Honestly, we never planned to play doubles in Madrid or Rome. It seems I initially didn’t enter in Madrid, but I did enter here. Then I saw we were in the draw — but we had no intention of playing. Also, of course, everything depends on the singles matches. Andrey wanted to focus more on his singles because the doubles here start from the second week — either today or tomorrow. I also look at my own matches: whether they are tough or not. Sometimes doubles can be a bonus, sometimes not so much. This week we just felt it would be better to train during that time, or take the day off to rest, instead of waiting around for a potential third or fourth match. So in the end we decided not to play doubles here,” Khachanov told a correspondent.
