Pro athletes often have siblings who chase similar athletic dreams. It was true in the case of Andrey Rublev, as his half-sister, Anna Arina Viktorovna Marenko, also trained hard to be a tennis player. However, she is not a player anymore and instead works on supporting her brother in his tennis journey. Andrey’s sister became one of the reasons her brother is in the top 10 of the ATP. 

Before she gave her career up for Andrey, she had shown impressive achievements on the junior tour.  Anna first played in 2006 on the junior tour and managed to attain a position in the top 50 in the world. She played on the ITF Tour in 2007 and competed in various tournaments. In singles, her most notable achievement came in the 2010 St. Petersburg ITF, where she reached the final and lost 2-6, 6-7 on clay. Her best WTA doubles ranking is 338, which she attained on December 20, 2010. 

Her major accomplishments came in doubles tennis. She played in 6 ITF Finals in 2010 and won 4 in Moscow, Alkmaar, Vinaros and Benicarlo. She would stumble for a year and eventually found her way to the Moscow ITF Finals and won in doubles once again. Her highest WTA singles ranking is 411, which she achieved on July 4, 2011. Following the tournament, she decided to hang up the racquet and focus on helping her brother achieve his dream.  

In a 2021 interview, Anna revealed why she left tennis and focused on her brother’s journey instead. “Firstly, all my life, I saw how passionate Andrey is about tennis. I knew that tennis was his life. For me, tennis wasn’t such a passion. I love it, but I wasn’t ready to work for the full 300% while he was working for the fullest 3000%! He simply slept with a racket! I saw all this, and it would be primitive to be jealous. It would be plain stupid. Today, I’m happy life has turned out this way.” 

Despite the emotional backstory, Andrey does not like it when his sister attends his matches. 

Why Andrey Rublev does not want his sister in the stands

In the same interview, Andrey and Anna shed light on why he prefers his family not to watch him play. They even reminisced about a past match where things got heated, with Andrey seemingly kicking his sister out of the stands!

The reason – “I remember that. He told me after the match that I had a wrong face expression, and I was crying!” When asked what the correct expression could be, she said, “A complete poker face! I can’t even remember… But it could be. He said, ‘I’m sick of you crying here, get out!’.” This was not the only time he apparently kicked his family out of the stadium. 

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“Well, my favorite time Andrey kicked us from court is when mom, dad and I, we flew to US Open. Dad and I’ve decided to watch a match. Andrey was already all against any of us attending it. Mom wouldn’t even get close, but we sneaked up to court, sat at the very top row, side seats. You wouldn’t believe it. Andrey immediately misses a ball, turns to us and starts waving his racquet like, “Get out of here, you two!”

Family support is often what helps players fight through grueling battles against players they are facing. However, Andrey Rublev is not a player who likes it when his family is in the stands. He appreciates his family’s efforts for him but prefers to see them when he is on a break. As it stands, we don’t see the World No. 8’s family and will likely not see it in his semifinal Madrid Open clash.