by Andrey Rublev can laugh about it now, but the tennis star was just hours away from losing a testicle.
Not long after his fourth-round exit at this year’s US Open, Rublev felt pain in one of his testicles and went to the hospital for a checkup.
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But when he got there, the Russian tennis star was told the area would only be deprived of blood for five hours before it would have to be amputated.
The world number 7 immediately underwent emergency surgery to ensure amputation was not required.
Ahead of his quarter-final match against Stan Wawrinka at the Stockholm Open, Rublev sensationally revealed that he had even given the go-ahead to lose one of his testicles if necessary.
“Now I feel perfect, everything went well,” said Rublev.
“I don’t know what to call it smart, but I can call it funny. I almost lost my ball.”
“I was very lucky because they say you only have five or six hours before the blood stops flowing there and then amputation occurs.”
“I was lucky. I don’t know why I said, ‘Let’s go to the hospital just to see why I have a funny feeling.’
They checked it immediately and admitted me for surgery as an emergency. After the initial feeling I felt, they were then able to do the operation within three or four hours. So they were able to do everything well and in the end everything is great.
“The last thing before they let me sleep was that I signed the paper saying they could amputate the ball. That was the last thing I saw before the operation.”
After the successful operation, doctors gave Rublev little chance of taking part in a number of tournaments in Asia.
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The Russian was scheduled to play at the Hangzhou Open, China Open and Shanghai Masters.
Despite having to miss Hangzhou, Rublev recovered remarkably in a timely manner and was able to take part in the latter two tournaments.
Unfortunately for the 26-year-old, he was eliminated in the quarterfinals and round of 64 at the China Open and Shanghai Masters respectively.
Rublev made a dominant start to the Stockholm Open, defeating French star Alexandre Muller 6-4, 6-1 in the round of 16.
The world number 7 is aiming for his third title this season after winning the Hong Kong Tennis Open in January and the Madrid Masters in April.
