"Not everyone is Rafa, not everyone is Novak & not everyone is Roger" - Patrick Mouratoglou on Alexander Bublik
Alexander Bublik completed a successful week in Metz, reaching the final of an ATP event for the seventh time in his career. The Kazakh beat the likes of Holger Rune and Emil Ruusuvuori en route to the summit clash — where he was beaten by Lorenzo Sonego.
Bublik's on-court antics over the course of the week, however, managed to generate the same amount of interest among fans as his stellar shotmaking. One particular incident — wherein he used the back end of his racket for a trickshot against Sonego was of particular interest to fans and tennis observers.
While some fans dubbed the shot selection as unsportsmanlike and disrespectful, tennis coach Patrick Mouratgolgou has come out in defense of the Kazakh.
Speaking about the incident in a short video posted on social media, Mouratoglou said Bublik needs to play shots like these as he derives a certain joy from them. He went on to add that everyone handles pressure differently and hitting trickshots on crucial points was the Kazakh's way of doing just that.
Mouratoglou also pointed out that tennis fans have high expectations of players, adding that not everyone is capable of living up to a gold standard like the Big 3 — Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. The Frenchman said it was important to understand that there are a lot of players between the World No. 1 and 1000, and that they are all very different from each other.
"Aleaxander Bublik needs, in a match, a few points like this, so he enjoys the game," Mouratoglou said. "And that's how he plays good. It's extremely important to take the stress out during a match by breaking a racket or shouting for some others. It's necessary to happen to enjoy."
"What people need to understand is that not everyone is Rafa, not everyone is Novak, not everyone is Roger," he continued. "You have a lot of players between No. 1 in the world and number 1000."
"I liked really what Alexander Bublik said, it's a game and he's right" - Patrick Mouratoglou
Mouratoglou went on to say that he agreed with Bublik's earlier comment about tennis being just a "game." He, however, was quick to add that a professional player is supposed to "fight to win" — something, which at times may come across as missing in Bublik's approach given his nonchalance on the court.
"I liked really what he said, it's a game and he's right, it's a game. So you should not forget that," Mouratoglou said. "But again, if you want to say something negative about him, the only thing we can say is that, yes, it's a game, but it's again that you're supposed to fight to win."
"And when he does that, it looks like he's not trying," he continued. "It was probably not the right point to play that shot. Yes, that's true. We also have to be a bit open. A lot of fans are very closed. Then you have to behave, perfect. Otherwise, you know, the good person. I diagree 100% with that. We are not perfect. Nobody is perfect. We have to accept it."