Andrei Rublev often gets into trouble because of his specific demeanor on the court. The Russian hardly restrains his emotions under pressure. In a fit of anger, he can swear obscenely at the camera, epicly break a racket, or rudely run over a judge. These tantrums do not look very nice, but the athlete still tries not to cross the boundaries of what is permitted … However, it does not always work out.

During the last Roland Garros draw, the tennis player still ran into punishment for unsportsmanlike behavior. Because of the wild antics of the Russian, an employee of the tournament almost got hurt!

Andrei had to publicly apologize for what he had done.

Failure in the first set

Last season was one of the strongest in Rublev’s career. Among other things, in 2022 the Russian managed to repeat his best result at Roland Garros. Andrei managed to get into the quarterfinals, where he lost to the more experienced Marin Cilic in five sets.

However, that French championship draw began for the tennis player with a small scandal. In the first round, Rublev, who occupied the seventh line in the ATP rankings, got Kwon Seong Wu as rivals. The Korean was considered an outsider, but already at the start of the match he forced him to reconsider his attitude towards himself.

Photo: © Tim Clayton / Contributor / Corbis Sport / Gettyimages.com

The Korean tennis player played the first set surprisingly confidently and got to the tie-break, which he won with a score of 7:6 (7:5) thanks to Andrey’s breakdown in the final draw. Moving to the other half of the court, our tennis player flared up. Giving the fans a displeased look, Andrey turned around, abruptly threw the ball and furiously hit it with a racket.

Just a meter from the athlete at that moment was a court worker: bouncing off the ground, the projectile hit him exactly in the cap. The man did not make a scandal out of what happened, silently picking up a headdress and continuing to clean the ground. But the fans did not leave this moment without attention, buzzing in response to the actions of the athlete. This, apparently, angered Andrei even more: sitting on the bench, he furiously broke a bottle of water on the court, forcing the same guy in a cap to clean up after him – the stands whistled again.

“Lost my head for a second”

The match ended up in favor of Rublev: the Russian pulled himself together and won three sets in a row, making it to the second round of the tournament. But the main reason for discussion after the game was not the Russian comeback at all, but his strange “assassination attempt” on a Roland Garros employee. A blow performed by a professional tennis player, and even at such a distance, could cause serious damage to a man. Naturally, Andrei had to explain himself to reporters:

– Yes, I lost my head for a second and, of course, I regret what I did. It is unacceptable to kick the ball like that. It would be better if I, I don’t know, just hit the bench with a racket, because the ball can hurt someone. And that’s the problem. I behaved unprofessionally and I hope that I will never do this again, ”the athlete repented.

Photo: © DeFodi Images / Contributor / DeFodi Images / Gettyimages.ru

But the Russian did not manage to get off with some apologies. As a result of the incident, he was issued a large fine of eight thousand dollars – more than half a million rubles! However, given that the prize money for reaching the second round was 62 thousand euros, the athlete did not lose too much.

I must say, Rublev was lucky with the punishment – he could well pay for his hysteria with a disqualification. You don’t have to go far for examples: in the current Roland Garros draw, Aldila Sutjiadi and Miya Kato, who played in doubles, were expelled from the tournament for such a trick. The Japanese woman hit the ball without looking and accidentally hit the girl serving the balls in the head. The young court worker burst into tears, and the rivals filed a complaint with the judge about the behavior of the Japanese woman – as a result, the couple was given a technical defeat. If Andrei had turned out to be a little more “accurate” in his strike, the tournament for him could also have ended in the first round.