Athletistic / Tennis. On March 1, the finalists were determined at the ATP-500 tournament in Dubai (UAE). And for the second year in a row it could turn out to be entirely Russian. In 2023, Daniil Medvedev and Andrei Rublev met in the decisive match of the competition in the Emirates (Daniil then won). This time, the country’s two best tennis players were once again on the verge of reaching the final, but the story decided to unfold in a completely different spiral.
In the first semi-final, Andrei Rublev met with the strongest tennis player from Kazakhstan, Alexander Bublik. Both tennis players are known for their eccentricities and the match therefore promised to be extremely interesting. In personal meetings, the score was 4-1 in favor of Rublev. The statistics and the start of the match did not bode well for Alexander.
Already in the first game, Rublev had a double break point, but Bublik managed to pull himself together and left his serve behind. Rublev was visibly nervous at the very beginning of the match and did not hesitate to express his displeasure with the refereeing decisions. Andrei’s enthusiasm did him a lot of harm – 0:2 in the first set.
In the fifth game, Bublik’s serve was completely out of whack. Alexander inflicted two double faults on his opponent, including on a break point. After winning the break, Rublev successfully played his serve and equalized the score – 3:3. As a result, there was a tiebreaker, where luck was on Alexander’s side – 7:6 (7-4).
Photo source: atptour.com
Bublik again started the second set with a break. Only in the eighth game, the mistakes of the representative of Kazakhstan allowed Rublev to make a reverse break – 4:4. In the remaining matches, both tennis players confidently held their serve and once again took the matter to the tiebreaker. There Andrey quickly made a mini-break and led the set to victory – 7:6 (7-5). The winner will be determined in the 3rd set!
The tiebreak did not begin according to the familiar scenario – now Rublev started the set with a break. Bagel didn’t like this at all and, in a fit of anger, he smashed his racket on the court. In the third game, Andrey was very close to a second consecutive break, but Bublik managed to pull himself together and made the score 1-2 in the deciding set. In the seventh game, Alexander managed to come back to 0:40 and clearly beat Andrey. In the eighth game, Rublev was clearly not comfortable and allowed Bublik to equalize the score – 4:4.
Then the concert started. With each unsuccessful game, Andrei Rublev began to boil more and more. In the deciding game of the 11th match, the linesman recorded a takedown for Rublev – 6:5. It seemed that Andrey needed to rest before his shift and pull himself together, but he had his own plans for this. The Russian ran to the lineman who recorded the takedown and told him in a raised voice everything he thought about it. After calming down, Andrei took a break amid the whistles from the audience. But that’s when surrealism began.
A line referee (not the one with whom Andrei was arguing) ran up to the referee on the tower and told him that the Russian tennis player had rudely insulted his colleague. According to the competition regulations, the chief referee of the match called (it was a girl) the supervisor to the field. He spoke with a lineman who knew Russian, then went to Rublev. Then the following dialogue occurred:
Supervisor: “Andrey, you called the referee an idiot! The line referee told us that. He understands Russian.”
Rublev: “No, I didn’t say that. I didn’t speak Russian to him at all! I spoke to him in English.”
Supervisor: (referring to linear) “Can you repeat what you said?”
Linear: “He (Rublev) said: “You are a fool! How could you not see what’s going on there?
Supervisor: “This will result in disqualification!” »
Rublev: “I didn’t speak Russian to him!”
Supervisor: “He says that’s what you said. And if that’s what you said, then…”
Rublev: “I didn’t say that! Are you serious? I didn’t even speak Russian.”
Linear: “If I hadn’t heard, I wouldn’t have said anything. I definitely said (mat).”
Rublev: “I didn’t say (mat)! That’s a huge lie. I swear. I didn’t say that!”
However, the supervisor did not believe the Russian tennis player and asked the tower referee to announce Rublev’s disqualification.
Photo source: atptour.com
To Bublik’s credit, it can be noted that he called on the supervisor to let this match end and said he wanted to continue. However, the judges did not change their decision. The match is over! Bublik reached the final of the 2024 Dubai tournament.
Now all points from the Dubai tournament will be taken away from Rublev. He could have received 180 ranking points for reaching the semi-finals, but the disqualification deprived him of that too. It is interesting that Andrey will lose even more in the ranking, since he received 300 points for his participation in last season’s final. For this reason, on March 4, Andrei will overtake Alexander Zverev in the ATP rankings. This is how Rublev’s emotionality deprived him of his place in the top 5 of the world rankings. Andrey will not receive an additional $160,000.
There certainly could not be a Russian final in Dubai in 2024. But we could see at least one representative of Russia in the decisive match of the confrontation. However, Daniil Medvedev had an unsuccessful match against Frenchman Hugo Humbert and lost sensationally (5:7, 3:6). The start of spring for Russian tennis was not very successful.
Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
