Jimmy Connors shares his opinion on Andrey Rublev’s decision to hire Marat Safin as his new coach

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Andrey Rublev has made a major change for the clay season, with Marat Safin joining his coaching team.

Safin will join Rublev from the Monte Carlo Masters, with the appointment coming amid a three-match losing streak for the latter.

Novak Djokovic congratulated Rublev after he won the Qatar Open in February, beating Jack Draper in the final.

Draper went on to win Indian Wells shortly after, but Rublev would go on to lose his opening matches there, Dubai and Miami.

He currently has 17 ATP Tour titles to his name, with his focus now switching from hard courts to clay courts.

Jimmy Connors approves of Andrey Rublev and Marat Safin

Former world number one Safin meanwhile won 15 titles throughout his career, including two Grand Slams.

Another legend in Jimmy Connors has now shared his verdict on the pairing, saying on the Advantage Connors podcast: “I think it’s an opportunity for both. Rublev probably needs somebody like him, the same attitude and personality.

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“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.

“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.

“He has probably been watching from the sidelines and looking at this guy and saying if you do this and this, and picking it apart a little bit. He probably reached out and said what do you think and he said man I got some ideas.”

Andrey Rublev and Marat Safin compared to Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray

Rublev finds himself ninth in the world rankings, with the Russian having reached the top five once upon a time.

He perhaps needs to find some form of consistency under Safin more than anything else, having endured a roller-coaster season so far.

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The new pairing has been compared by Connors to that of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, who went from rivals to teammates shortly after the Scot retired.

Continuing his verdict, the American icon said: “It’s like Djokovic and Murray, why not try it? Give it a go and see it.

“It’s either going to work or it’s not and you know very quickly if you get along. I think that’s probably the most important thing.

“If you are a coach you are seeing a lot of your guy, spending time with him and breakfast in the morning. It’s 18 hours a day almost and so you better be able to get along and stand each other.”