"ATP needs to clarify their rules" - Alexander Bublik left fuming after 'ridiculous' decision to sanction him for on-court coaching
Alexander Bublik is not happy about the ATP's decision to sanction him for on-court coaching during his quarterfinal match at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille.
Bublik was up against Grigor Dimitrov in the last-eight match, which he eventually won. Notably, the Kazakh took a break during the encounter to speak with his coach Artem Suprunov about his serve.
The prevailing notion is that this is nothing to frown upon, as the ATP has allowed on-court coaching since the middle of 2022. However, Bublik was interrupted during his conversation by chair umpire Arnaud Gabas, who did not consider the situation admissible and issued him a coaching violation.
The incident left the Kazakh furious, and he expressed his frustration at a press conference afterwards. Alexander Bublik stated that the umpire told him on-court coaching cannot take place in the form of a "conversation," which confused him because he was of the opinion that all on-court coaching involves having a conversation.
The Kazakh added that he was not the type to simply listen to what his coach said, meaning that he was going to respond to his remarks either way -- thus leading to the inadmissible "conversation."
"He told me that [coaching] cannot be a conversation. But what if I ask a question and the coach tells me to do this and I say, I don’t feel it? That’s what happened. I told him I don’t feel the serve, and he told me go on, throw the ball differently, and I said I don’t feel it, and I got a coaching [violation]," Bublik said.
The World No. 50 went on to say that the ATP should "clarify their rules" and that if on-court coaching is permitted, it should be permitted completely.
"I think the ATP needs to just clarify their rules and if they allow coaching, allow it! It is not interrupting the play because that’s why I stood up 40 seconds before the changeover," Bublik said.
"I’m not the kind of guy to talk to someone to try to interrupt the game. Nobody gets coached by yelling and saying ‘Bend your legs’ or something. Maybe someone does, but not with me," he added.
"They don’t even know their own rules, it sounds ridiculous" - Alexander Bublik
Alexander Bublik went on to say that the ATP don't know their "own rules" and that it's "ridiculous" to get a violation for something that was permitted by the organization.
He then compared the on-court coaching rule to time violations, explaining that both were completely at the discretion of chair umpires. Bublik claimed that some umpires give out penalties for wasting time and some don't.
"They don’t even know their own rules. I knew I was going to get coaching [violation]. It sounds ridiculous because you’re allowing coaching, but you give a code violation for coaching," Bublik said.
"That’s how ATP rules are in certain ways. Nobody knows why they’re there and why something is happening: like with the time violation, sometimes somebody gives it, sometimes not, so nobody knows," he added.
The 25-year-old then stated that he would speak with the ATP later because he wanted to have a "clear vision" of how things will progress in the future.
"But we’ll see. But we’re going to have a conversation with ATP afterwards, because I want to have a clear vision on how it’s going to be in the future, because they need to change things," Bublik said.
Alexander Bublik's run in Marseille was cut short by Poland's Hubert Hurkacz in the semifinals.