Andrey Rublev has revived the debate around his default from last month’s Dubai Tennis Championships. The world No. 6 was disqualified after screaming in the face of a linesman, while another lines judge claimed that he swore in Russian. He appealed and was able to retain his points and prize money but Rublev still believes the punishment was “too much”.
Rublev found himself at the centre of drama last month when he was defaulted towards the end of his semi-final in Dubai. The second seed was taking on Alexander Bublik – who led 6-5 in the final set after two and a half hours. In a moment of frustration after disagreeing with a call, he approached a line judge and screamed in his face.
A separate Russian-speaking official approached the umpire and claimed that Rublev used an obscenity in Russian, and the 26-year-old was disqualified. He automatically lost all of his points and prize money as a result but lodged a successful appeal, meaning both were reinstated – minus his £28,840 ($36,400) fine for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Although Rublev has since apologised for his behaviour and admitted that it was wrong, he maintains that he never swore and still believes his punishment was too harsh. “If we look at the situation as a whole, I think this is too much,” he told Sport-Express.Ru.
“Because I had much worse situations, and the punishments for them were much softer, warnings with a minimal fine. And I didn’t say half the things that were written in the report.” Rublev called for a video review after the incident to prove that he didn’t use an audible obscenity, and he still believes that VAR should be introduced to avoid a similar situation.
The 15-time title winner continued: “That’s why it was possible to refute this because there was video evidence that made it clear, I did not say exactly the things that were attributed to me. Thanks to this, my rating points were returned.
“But still, a 36,000 [dollar] fine and disqualification for the word ‘moron’ – based on all my experience in my career, this is too much. Although if we take my behaviour, then I am wrong and, of course, this is unacceptable.”
