to all the fans to all the people out there we had a lot of fun with Anda can you tell us what we did I almost fell in love with you uh we played some tennis that you will play some Old School tennis we're we're behind the we're behind the scene and uh stay tuned and we're going to show it very soon thank you all there was that time Andre rublev professed his affections for tourmate Gregor dimitro allowed during a Frankfurt hit and giggle I think if I was a girl I would be completely in love with grig for roblo I love the way you wear your heart on your sleeve man nober N9 dimitrov replied or that time that while filming a behindthescenes tour of the Courts at the Monte Carlo masters number six rublev confessed to the Bulgarian I almost fell in love with you the way he looks everyone is in love with him himself as well the baseliner later reiterated on the tennis channel set sharing a laugh with host prash amitr he thinks everyone is in love with him the way he looks the way he plays tennis he can hit a backhand and Miss in the net but it's so beautiful amazing backhand forehand technique amazing touch whether it's a winner or a miss it looks perfect always the Bromance is real but few know that it all began right here in Queens New York back in 2017 after prevailing in their first career encounter 7 to5 763 63 in round two of the US Open that year rublev wished his opponent luck in in qualifying for the year-end ATP finals not only did dimitrov qualify he went on to win the title still the biggest of his career after that little by little we started to have a better connection rublev said when I was a junior I liked him as a player rublev said on Friday after a third round 63 75 64 victory over Jeri leeka at that time he was something different from the big three big four I liked to watch his matches they had have met another six times since with rublev holding a slight 43 Edge in the head to heads as fate would have it these Mutual admirers will face off once again at the 2024 Us open this time in the round of 16 on Sunday Gregor is an unbelievable player a great friend said Ruble of the sixth seed we've had many matches we'll see in the moment it will be who is more ready the 26-year-old sees their games as fairly similar we both like to dictate with the forehead hand he said we have different backhands he uses the slice he likes to change the Rhythm I have a two-handed backhand but our game styles are similar because he likes to play aggressive he likes to dictate with the forehand to be the one who leads the match at 33 the ninth seed dimitrov is in the midst of a career Renaissance last year at this time he was number 19 in the ATP rankings some half a dozen years removed from his last singles title fast forward forward and he's returned to the top 10 kicking off 2024 with an ATP 250 title in Brisbane it was very important for me to get any title this year it happened to be the first week said dimitro who has reached the quarterfinals or better at all four majors that set a tone for me a little bit for the season you just realize things throughout the season with every match that you play what the important things are I've never shied away from work it's just putting myself in the best possible place to perform it comes down to your own attitude your own way of pushing yourself believing in yourself no one can do that for you rublev made the first of his 10 career Grand Slam quarterfinals at the 2017 US Open the same year he first faced dimitro dimitrov meanwhile has reached the semi-finals here something he accomplished in 2019 when ranked number 78 he rallied to defeat Roger Federer 36 64 36 64 62 the second lowest ranked us open semi-finalist since Jimmy Connor's number 174 in 1991 only one can win but either way it shakes out that Bromance is sure to continue