Andrey Rublev has made light of a harrowing health scare in the wake of the US Open, with a cheeky remark about what might have been.

The tennis star is ranked seventh in the world, having won 16 career titles and making it to ten Grand Slam quarter-finals.

His US Open run was cut short in the fourth round after a marathon five-set defeat at the hands of Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

But in the aftermath of his exit, the 26-year-old checked himself into hospital after feeling pain in his testicle where he was told he could only afford five hours of blood not flowing there before it would have to be amputated.

Now Rublev has shed light on his shock prognosis, summing up the scare with the neat but unsettling quip, ‘I almost lost my ball’.

Andrey Rublev has made light of a harrowing health scare in the wake of the US Open

The Russian’s comeback from injury is well underway after racing to the Nordic Open quarters

He faces Stan Wawrinka at the tournament today and spoke ahead of the big clash

He told a press conference ahead of his Nordic Open clash with Stan Wawrinka this afternoon: ‘Now I feel perfect, everything went well.

‘I don’t know how to call it in a smart way but I can call it in a funny way…
‘I almost lost my ball.
‘I was super lucky because they say you have only five or six hours if the blood stops going there and then it’s amputation.

‘I was lucky. I don’t know why I said, ‘let’s go to hospital just to check why I feel a weird feeling’.

‘They checked straight away and they took me as an emergency to do the surgery and then they were able to do the surgery in three or four hours after the first feeling I felt.

‘So they were able to do everything good and in the end everything is great.

‘The last thing before they made me sleep, I signed the paper saying they were allowed to amputate my ball – that was the last thing before the surgery that I saw.’

Rublev’s US Open run was cut short in the fourth round after a marathon five-set defeat at the hands of Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov

He eased past Alexandre Muller in the second round in Stockholm 6-4 6-1 in a clash which lasted just 64 minutes

Andrey Rublev admitted he was ‘killing himself’ on court as he crashed out of the French Open

Last month Rublev surprisingly withdrew from the Hangzhou Open through illness and his dramatic story-telling session at Thursday’s press conference is the first time he has revealed the full details of his health scare.

The Russian’s comeback is well underway after easing past Alexandre Muller in the second round in Stockholm 6-4 6-1 in a clash which lasted just 64 minutes.

Earlier this year, Rublev crashed out of the French Open in tumultuous fashion, smashing his racket twice into the ground and, as he went to sit down for a changeover, kicking the bench three times on his way to a 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 loss to Italian Matteo Arnaldi.

He later admitted, ‘I don’t remember behaving worse at a Slam ever’.