"Daniil had no idea who he is" - Andrey Rublev reflects on his and Daniil Medvedev's 'embarrassing' meeting with One Direction member Louis Tomlinson

Andrey Rublev recently reflected on the experience of meeting One Direction member Louis Tomlinson along with Daniil Medvedev during their time in Mexico, calling the entire situation "embarrassing."

Rublev and Medvedev were in Mexico to take part in an exhibition tournament named the Tennis Showdown, and happened to be staying in the same hotel as the English singer-songwriter.

Speaking about the meeting (as quoted by ATPTour.com), the World No. 7 marveled at just how many people came hoping to catch sight of Tomlinson. He remarked that he had never seen anything like it before in his life.

“That was funny because when we were arriving, we saw so many people in front of the hotel,” Rublev said. “Daniil was like, ‘Why [are there] so many people here?’ Outside of the hotel were a thousand people, kids, girls. As soon as he came out you cannot imagine what was happening. I saw it only in YouTube videos. I’ve never seen something like this in my life.”

The Russian revealed that Daniil Medvedev had no idea who Tomlinson was, making the situation even more awkward for the duo, as the singer too had no idea who Rublev and Medvedev were either. Regardless, the pair managed to get past his security guards and convince him to stay for a photograph.

“It was a bit embarrassing, but it was still okay. In Daniil’s situation, it was embarassing-embarassing because first of all the guy had no idea who we are and Daniil had no idea who he is. Me at least, I knew who he is, but Daniil had no idea,” Rublev said.

“He was with 10 security [guards] around, he was in the middle and they were like, ‘Okay, fast, or something’. Even if they told him that we are athletes, that we are not that bad, not just random people," he added.

Andrey Rublev also joked about how the photo came out. In the photo, it appears as if Medvedev is really Tomlinson's friend, especially because the World No. 6, who did not even want to take a photo in the first place, approached him with the request.

“It was just, ‘Hey hey, fast photo.' But at least I knew who he is. Daniil, he didn’t even know, so he didn’t even want to do the photo. But [he did] because they said, ‘Okay let’s do it, it’s going to be nice’. Daniil didn’t know him, the guy didn’t know him, but it looked like Daniil is a friend of his because he was the one who approached,” Andrey Rublev said.

"It was a really nice experience to see how this process goes" - Andrey Rublev on his experience covering One Direction's hit song 'Steal My Girl'

Andrey Rublev at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters

Andrey Rublev also recalled the time he covered One Direction's 'Steal My Girl' back in 2015, referring to it as a "fun" experience. The 25-year-old had never seen musicians playing with real instruments until then, making for a nice look into how music production really works.

“Actually, I had fun. I like music a lot and I never had at that moment [the] experience [of] how you do [a music video] from the beginning because all the instruments that were there, it’s not from the cover,” Andrey Rublev said.

“The guys were playing with real instruments. Everything — piano, guitar, drums — were separated and then they put them all together. So for me it was a really nice experience to see how this process goes," he added.