Jimmy Connors is fully approving the Andrey Rublev and Marat Safin partnership as the American tennis icon thinks it's similar to the Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray collaboration.
Since winning Doha in February, the Russian has hit a rough stretch and has picked up three consecutive defeats. So for the clay season, he decided to make a bold move and add Safin to his team.
As you probably know, the 2000 Wimbledon champion was one of the best players in the early 2000s. But since retiring, he has mostly stayed away from the Tour and this is set to be only his first official Tour stint with a player.
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Connors suggests Rublev, Safin are similar and they could quickly develop a chemistry
The same character that can understand what he is going through when he is up and down and going through a lot of the waves you are going through when you are playing a match," the former eight-time Grand Slam champion said on the Advantage Connors podcast.
Safin, for sure, watching him play was kind of like [Ilie] Nastase, you never know what you are going to get, which made it more fun and then if he played great tennis it was even better. I think that could be very good for Rublev, because Safin has been away from the game for a while."
After stunningly adding Murray to his team for the Australian Open, Djokovic went on to beat Carlos Alcaraz and reach the semifinal at Melbourne Park before a very unfortunate injury ended his promising career.
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Its like Djokovic and Murray, why not try it? Give it a go and see it," Connors said.
Connors also noted that Rublev and Safin don't have anything to lose by giving a shot to their partnership, simply because they will quickly realize if they can be a successful duo.
Just like Rublev, Safin had a bad temper during his playing days. But he still went on to win two Grand Slams and reach the world No. 1 ranking. Now, the Russian tennis legend will try to pass on his knowledge and advice on the 27-year-old and try to help him make that next step in his game.
