The Andrey Rublev default at the Dubai Tennis Championships 2024 semifinals is set to remain a talking point in the tennis world for many weeks at least. The Alexander Bublik vs Andrey Rublev match was going well and was in the third set, where Rublev decided to clap back with fury towards one of the line judges. After that, the chair umpire disqualified Andrey Rublev, which meant that Bublik was declared the winner of the match by default and as a result, advanced to the final. Rublev’s behavior got the tennis world drawing comparisons of all sorts.
The game was a see-saw one at 6-7 (4-7), 7-6(7-5), 6-5, with Alexander Bublik in the lead in the deciding set. Bublik had done exceptionally well to come back from a set down to win the second in another tie-break. However, the linesman got it completely wrong, not adjudging an unforced error in Bublik’s name and after that, as the players continued rallying for the point, Rublev’s ball went out and that is when the Russian’s anger boiled over to the linesman.
After the match, Andrey Rublev insisted that he had shouted at the linesman in Russian. However, the linesman told the chair umpire that Rublev sweared at him in English, saying ‘F***** moron!’
The matter quickly became a raging topic on the Internet, with fans making all sorts of comments. They drew comparisons with other legends like Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, etc. A whole discussion started on X with a particular tweet.
Many users like him basically remarked that the tennis establishment was unjust to Rublev, and would’ve been partial towards a lot of other players. This controversial comment drew fans of different tennis personalities. Some would come to their idols’ defenses, and some would simply be there to tear apart other tennis players for doing the same and getting away with it. And so they did.
Many of these comparisons were regarding how Rublev got harsh treatment. Whereas, others were of the opinion that Rublev has anger issues and needs therapy to work on himself as he has been seen in the past slamming umpires and linesmen aggressively on court.
According to many, the Andrey Rublev default also is a reminder about a belief Novak Djokovic has. Djokovic recently spoke out that players of Eastern Bloc countries like him, have been through injustice. Whereas players of Western countries got away with it a lot. Djokovic even talked about it in detail about that incident in an interview during the Australian Open 2024, where he accused Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal uniting against him at the peak of the rivalries he had with them.
How does the Andrey Rublev default affect his ratings and rankings?
To be fair, what Rublev murmured to the chair umpire wasn’t exactly conclusive as different versions have come out of the same. However, with his contorted face, all the yelling, and giving the chair umpire a stare, it was clear Rublev was nasty. After the default, even his opponent and friend Alexander Bublik felt bad. In fact, Bublik wished to continue playing the match but the chair umpire was in no mood to budge despite this not being the first offence of such kind in the sport of tennis.
Bublik spoke to the press after the match and said that Rublev isn’t usually like that. The Kazakhstani, who is co-incidentally from Russia originally too, gave Rublev the benefit of doubt by indirectly claiming that he was perhaps under pressure to maintaining his top 5 position and a victim of hectic scheduling, and in a semi-final of a big tournament, the stakes are higher. But Bublik got a walkover.
Rublev will not walk away with the USD $157,755 prize money that he would have received even if he had lost a completed semi-final match against Bublik. Whereas, Bublik is assured of a minimum of USD $296,000 prize money as he entered the final. Rublev will also drop 255 points in the process. This means that the Russian would drop out of the Top 5 rankings (he is 5th) and will be replaced by Alexander Zverev.
