Tennis News: Alexander Bublik's opponent hates him and Andrey Rublev's complaint

  • Bublik and Roberto Carballes Baena don't have dinner plans
  • Andrey Rublev gets upset and with good reason
Mateo Villalba/GettyImages
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Alexander Bublik likes to make his matches entertaining. One can never be too sure what the Kazakhstani player will do next. He might hit a drop serve or attempt a tweener for no real reason. He is a good player, too, so the oft-script things he does on the court are seemingly just because he wants to have a bit of fun.

In a match during his run at the Madrid Masters over the past week, though, Bublik's opponent, Roberto Carballes Baena, was not ready to be part of the fun. In fact, Carballes Baena got so upset with Bublik that twice he clearly tried to hit Bublik with his serve. More on that in just a minute, however.

There were a couple of bits during the match that might have gotten the Spaniard angry. Carballes Baena is one of the players in men's tennis who likes to let forth loud grunts as he hits shots. To be fair, what he does seems unnecessary and is at times ridiculous. Bublik apparently thinks so as well because during the second set of the match Bublik would win 1-6 6-2 6-2 the Kazakhstani mocked his opponent's grunts by doing some of his own.

Alexander Bublik makes his opponent hate him and Andrey Rublev has a right to be angry

What Bublik was doing when grunting was clearly a joke, though. He would grunt loudly on a drop shot and a lob. Two shots that do not require much physical exertion.

This, and Bublik hitting a front-facing tweener, seemingly led to Carballes Baena's frustration boiling over and the Spaniard served two straight balls toward Bublik. Bublik just stood and smiled at his classless opponent. The moment was entertaining for all, except Carballes Baena, of course. (Bublik did lose to Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round in Madrid.)

Another player that got upset during a match recently was Andrey Rublev. Rublev has a negative reputation for getting angry easily, of course, but his reasons for becoming irate during a match during his run at the Madrid Masters were valid ones. He was playing Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Rublev would win the match in straight sets but with no help from the linespeople or chair umpire.

Rublev's first point of contention was when a serve from Davidovich Fokina was called long and Rublev did not attempt to play the ball. The chair umpire overruled the call and awarded the point to Rublev's opponent. This was obviously unfair as Rublev might have played the point had the ball not been called long.

In his argument with the chair umpire, Rublev correctly told the official that the point should not have been awarded to his opponent saying, "I swear I know I bring the ball out, I’m not saying anything. He called it (out) before I (played the) shot. The same thing with (Rafael Nadal) happened yesterday, exactly the same. Now I start to think that we need only machines on court instead of referees. I respect, I know that I bring the ball out. I won’t say anything. But he called it before I played the shot."

There are times when Andrey Rublev's emotions overtake him and he needs to be more calm. However, there are other times, such as the match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina when the Russian has a right to be upset.

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