UTS: New coach Marat Safin has immediate impact on Andrey Rublev

The impact of new coach Marat Safin was immediately apparent in Andrey Rublev's game as they combined for their first match at Bastide Médical UTS Nîmes. World No.9 Rublev took out World No.14 Ben Shelton 3-1 18/11 20/7 19/7 in the first match in the historic Arènes de Nîmes.  

When asked about his performance at the end of the match, Rublev said:
"We had a tactic from Marat and we were just trying to follow it. He's been through many things in his life plus on top of that he knows me since I was little and I know him all my life, I think he can help me but I cannot be specific because we only started to work like 3 days, so we will see after a couple of months."

Source: UTS

The tactic obviously worked as 'Rublo' claimed his spot in Saturday's semifinals where he will play World No.6 Casper Ruud (unlike other UTS events Bastide Médical UTS Nîmes will be played over two days and will be a straight knockout format) after Ruud made short work of Alexei Popyrin.

Rublev also spoke about the incredible atmosphere and opportunity to play in the 1000 year old Arènes de Nîmes: "I never in my life experience something like that, even as a tourist.  I was many times in Rome but I never been inside the Colosseum, so to be able not just to be inside something similar but to perform, it's for sure one of the highlights of my life."

Source: UTS

Despite his loss Shelton also enjoyed the chance to play in such a memorable location, "I've never seen an arena like this before.  They were fighting before, now we are playing tennis."

Friday saw a record for a single day at UTS of 8,000 spectators, a record that will only last for one day as a sold-out 12,500 crowd will descend on the Arènes de Nîmes on Saturday.

Conceived by renowned coach and entrepeneur Patrick Mouratoglou, UTS is designed to be tennis like never before with an innovative format to engage and entertain. In 2025 the UTS Tour comprises four international events,  including a UTS Grand Final in December. Thanks to UTS’s unique competition structure, every match matters as the eight players at each event compete for winner-takes-all prize-money as well as points towards their UTS Race Ranking. The UTS Race Ranking at the end of the season will determine who qualifies for the Grand Final.

Highlights Video

===

Source: UTS