Andrey Rublev has shared the details of his recent health scare.
During the recent Asian swing, the world No. 7 revealed that he underwent emergency surgery before he was due to fly to China.
Rublev has now confirmed that he almost “lost” one of his testicles after being rushed into the operating room and signing papers giving permission for an amputation.
The Russian was able to successfully return to competition at last month’s China Open following the emergency procedure. At the time, he didn’t go into details about the operation.
Rublev is now in action at this week’s ATP 250 in Stockholm, where he is the top seed. After winning his first match, he made light of his health scare and bluntly declared: “I almost lost my ball.”
The world No. 7 explained: “Now I feel perfect, everything went well. I don’t know how to call it in a smart way but I can call it in a funny way… I almost lost my ball.”
Rublev was on the operating table around four hours after noticing pain in the area – coming dangerously close to needing amputation.
“I was super lucky because they say you have only five or six hours if the blood stops going there and then it’s amputation,” he continued.
“I was lucky. I don’t know why I said, ‘Let’s go to hospital just to check why I feel a weird feeling.’
“They checked straight away and they took me as an emergency to do the surgery and then they were able to do the surgery in three or four hours after the first feeling I felt. So they were able to do everything good and in the end everything is great.”
Before going under, Rublev even gave the surgeons permission to amputate. He added: “The last thing before they made me sleep, I signed the paper saying they were allowed to amputate my ball – that was the last thing before the surgery that I saw.”
Last month, Rublev pulled out of the Hangzhou Open with injury. He was back in action just a week later in Beijing, where he reached the quarter-final. The 26-year-old then headed to Shanghai, where he first addressed his procedure.
“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,” he told BetBoom Tennis.
Before the operation, Rublev was later told he’d be bedridden for a month. But the successful surgery meant he was able to get back on the court quicker.
“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,” he said.
