US tennis star wants line judge Andrey Rublev screamed at…
US tennis star wants line judge Andrey Rublev screamed at ‘demoted to pickleball’.
Several tennis stars have jumped to the defence of Andrey Rublev after the world No.5 was disqualified from the Dubai Tennis Championships for screaming at an official.
Two-seed Rublev was trailing 6-5 in the deciding set when the incident occurred, with Bublik being awarded a 6-7 7-6 6-5 victory. Bublik, the number-seven seed went on to lose to Frances’ Ugo Humbert in straight sets in Saturday’s final.
Rublev was reported to ATP supervisor Roland Herfel, with a Russian-speaking official claiming the 26-year-old had sworn in his native tongue. The world No.5 protested his innocence, but he was defaulted for unsportsmanlike conduct by umpire Miriam Bley.
Rublev was punished by losing all of his prize money and ranking points from the tournament, costing him between £124,000 and £434,000, depending on where he finished in the event. He received sympathy from many fellow professionals, including former world number 17 Opelka. Responding to a post about the disqualification on Instagram, Opelka said: “Bush league. Linesman should get demoted to pickleball ASAP.”