Andrey Rublev delivers a message to his younger self in heartfelt ATP clip

If you could speak to your 12-year-old self, what would you say? Tennis fans found out what Andrey Rublev would say this week, as the Top 10 star delivered a message to his younger self about happiness in a heartfelt ATP video.

"When you are Top 400 in the world, you'll be happier than when you're Top 10 in the world, having everything," the current world No. 6 said in the clip, addressing the "little friend" he hoped would be found watching Nickelodeon cartoons.

“What I’ve learned is success isn’t going to make you happy, only you can do that for yourself."

But that's not all the wisdom that present-day Rublev shared.

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"When you have choices, listen to yourself, and trust what is right for you," he added. "You can't avoid difficult moments, but if you're happy with yourself, the difficult moments won't affect you as much. It's only depending on you if you want to change it."

The earnest clip comes in a 2024 season in which Rublev has been trying, in more ways than one. An emotional outburst in the face of a line umpire earned him a much-scrutinized default in the semifinals in Dubai in March, and despite winning a Masters 1000 title in Madrid and reaching the final at another in Montreal, two protracted losing streaks occurred in between.

The volatile Russian admitted in August that his struggles with depression and burnout reached a boiling point this year, which also included a third-round loss to Matteo Arnaldi at Roland Garros where Rublev had another self-destructive episode. He called how he behaved in defeat "the worst" he'd ever been in a Grand Slam match.

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“Mentally I was out of order,” he admitted. “I guess it was already a long moment of everything [building up] and I started to burn out, because I was struggling for many years with depression, with many things outside of the court. ... I guess this year it’s when I can’t handle it anymore, and it starts to just explode."

In contention to qualify for the season-ending ATP Finals for a fifth straight time, an eventful 2024 nearly is completely behind Rublev. But after all he's been through this year, it's safe to say that his message to his younger self is one that will surely resonate with the soon-to-be 27-year-old version, too.