Andrey Rublev disqualified in Dubai for furiously screaming in face of line judge

Andrey Rublev has been dramatically disqualified from his match with Alexander Bublik at the Dubai Open. The semi-final clash was brilliantly poised at one set all, with Bublik 6-5 up in the decider when his opponent lost his head.

Seconds after the Kazakh player had held serve, Rublev made his way towards a male line-judge, and was seemingly livid at a call during the game. He ranted as he approached him, and then proceeded to gesture furiously with his hands and scream in his face.

Rublev, 26, would still have had the opportunity to serve to level the match and force a tie-break decider. However, following his outburst, he was immediately disqualified by officials for ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’.

It wasn’t clear exactly what had been said, but both the line-judge and a senior match official explained the decision to this year’s Australian Open quarter-finalist as he sat in his seat. It was explained that the man subjected to his rant understood Russian, and the umpire duly announced the player has been defaulted.

Bublik did indicate he was happy to continue, but the decision stood, leaving the crowd bewildered. Rublev himself appeared to argue he didn’t use any obscenities, but eventually picked up his kit bag and headed for the locker rooms.

World no.21 Bublik will now face either Daniil Medvedev or Ugo Humbert in the final. And there was little sympathy for his beaten opponent, with his temper on court having long been under scrutiny.

@josemorgado wrote on X: “Rublev is a great guy but he’s exploded on court way too many times. This can’t happen.” @BastienFachan added: “Look, swearing or not, you can’t scream in officials’ faces and get away with it every time. Time for Rublev to take action towards resolving his anger issues.”

World no.5 Rublev had been considered one of the star attractions in the UAE, beating Zhizhen Zhang and Arthur Cazaux to reach the last eight. But his match against American Sebastian Korda was also cut short after his opponent retired.

Rublev was leading 6-4 4-3 when Korda forfeited the game, citing injury. He had taken the first set 7-6 (7-4) in his final-four match with Bublik, and the second set also went the distance with the latter taking the tie-break 7-5.