Andrey Rublev
Russian tennis star Andrey Rublev has been slammed for ‘unacceptable’ behaviour at the French Open
Andrey Rublev has been widely criticized for his behavior at the French Open after almost injuring a court sweeper with a ball he hit in anger following a set loss. The seventh seed unexpectedly dropped the first set of his first-round clash against South Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo, losing 6-7 (5) on a tiebreak. Rublev smashed a ball that ricocheted off his chair and narrowly missed a nearby court sweeper out of frustration.
The ball came within centimeters of hitting the volunteer in the head, with the force of the ball knocking his hat off. However, Rublev wasn’t penalized heavily and got off with just a code violation. He was allowed to continue the match, which he ended up winning 6-7, 6-3 6-2 6-4.
Speaking on the incident after the match, Andrey Rublev said –“I lost my mind for a moment, and of course I regret what I did. It’s unacceptable to hit the ball the way I hit it.Better if I just hit the racquet on the seat, because the ball can affect someone. That’s when the problem comes.This is unprofessional from my side and hopefully I will never do it again.”
The tennis community has witnessed similar incidents recently – Alexander Zverev hit a chair umpire’s stand repeatedly at the Acapulco Open, Nick Kyrgios almost hit a ball boy after smashing a racquet on the court at the Indian Wells Masters while Jenson Brooksby hit a ball boy with his racquet at the Miami Open.
Although the incidents were mostly similar in nature, the end verdicts are completely different from each other.
At the Indian Wells Masters, Kyrgios smashed the racquet against the ground which bounced off and almost hit a ball boy who ducked in time. Later on, the Australian was fined the US $25,000.
Zverev was angered by an umpiring call that didn’t go in his favor at the Mexican Open. He started hurling abuses at the chair umpire in rage and hit his sitting stand multiple times with his racquet. Soon after the match, the tournament authorities disqualified him from the tournament on grounds of misconduct.
At the Miami Open, Jenson Brooksby threw his racquet in frustration and it bounced up to hit a ball boy who was standing by the scoreboard at the back of the court. Brooksby was handed a point penalty but was allowed to continue the match.
This inconsistency in decision-making is eye catching and certainly leaves a lot of room for improvement – if the governing authorities plan to reduce instances of misconduct on court!
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