Andrey Rublev’s season came to an end after losing to Ben Shelton in the third round of the Paris Masters.
The American clinched the first set in a tiebreak and took the second 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals, while also booking his place in the ATP Finals.
For Rublev, his defeat in the French capital marks the end of a somewhat indifferent 2025 campaign, having claimed just one ATP title, and falling down the rankings to 17th, after starting January ninth in the world.
At Grand Slams, the Russian failed to make it past the quarterfinals of any major for the first time since 2019.
After his exit from the Paris Masters, Rublev pinpointed where it went wrong against Shelton and gave a brutally honest assessment of his season.
Andrey Rublev assesses his 2025 season and loss to Ben Shelton
When asked for his highs and lows of 2025 in an interview with ‘Bolshe’, Rublev responded: “No highs, no lows. Lots of lessons. Lots of lessons that I have learned. That’s it. So we will see what happens next.”
The former world number five said he had improved emotionally off the court, explaining: “Many situations taught me to finally understand what calmness is a bit better.”
Reacting to his loss to Shelton, Rublev said: “Overall, my game was pretty good. There were a lot of good moments from the baseline. I showed some initiative.
“It did not work out at 3-3, 0-30 when I had a chance on his second serve. That’s tennis. It’s part of the game. In the tiebreak, at 1-1, I hit the net [cord] and it landed perfectly for him so he could put it away and take the mini-break.
“Those moments are just part of the game, and I didn’t do anything wrong. It just happened that way, and that was it.
“He played really well today. Compared to the tennis he has shown over the last month, he barely gave anything away.
“He hit the first serve when he needed to. He hit insane winners, like on the set point. Very few errors. He played at a really high level today. The first set probably decided it.”
Andrey Rublev’s disappointing 2025 Masters series
Like his Grand Slam season, Rublev recorded his worst Masters series in a number of years during 2025, failing to make it to the semifinals of any Masters 1000 event for the first time since 2020.
Rublev only went as far as the quarterfinals in Masters competitions this year, having tallied two last-eight finishes at the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open.
| Masters Event | Result |
| Indian Wells | Second Round |
| Miami | Second Round |
| Monte-Carlo | Third Round |
| Madrid | Third Round |
| Rome | Second Round |
| Toronto | Quarterfinals |
| Cincinnati | Quarterfinals |
| Shanghai | Second Round |
| Paris | Third Round |
After winning two Masters titles and finishing as the runner-up twice over the last two years, in 2025, he lost in the second round four times and totalled three third-round exits.
Rublev’s sole tour-level crown this season came at the Qatar Open in February, where he beat Jack Draper in the final to hoist his 17th ATP title.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
