Watch: Alexander Bublik's "are you a tennis player?" rant at line judge after getting called for foot fault
Alexander Bublik scored a resounding 7-5, 6-4 win over Andy Murray to book his spot in the semifinals of the 2022 Halle of Fame Tennis Championships. The Kazakh was especially impressive on serve, firing down 12 aces en-route to a straight-sets win.
However, it was his rant aimed at a line judge — who called a foot fault on the Kazakh's serve — midway through the second set that caught the attention of tennis fans. The video of the incident has since been shared by the official social media handles of Tennis TV.
A wee bit of tension after a foot fault call on Bublik’s back foot 😏 https://t.co/8YA7pVN5lC
The call from the line judge came at 40-30 in the sixth game, with Bublik having a game point to level the second set at 3-3. The Kazakh questioned the line judge, who he claimed had called the fault on his right foot.
Highlighting the presumed absurdity of the call, he went on a rant aimed at the judge, asking them: "Are you a tennis player?" Refusing to accept the call even after an intervention from the match umpire, he continued to press on the fact that the foot fault could only be called on his left foot.
"Excuse me, he's telling me that I made a foot fault with the right leg. How can that possibly be? Do you want me to serve like this?" he can be heard saying in the video.
"Are you a tennis player? How can it possibly be, if you tell me it is the left leg, I am totally fine with it, but how can it possibly be that I serve like this."
The 28-second video of has since been viewed by 25,000 people on Twitter.
Alexander Bublik to take on Jason Kubler in the Hall of Fame Open semifinals
Alexander Bublik will take on Jason Kubler in the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Open. This will be his first last-four appearance of the season since winning the Open Sud de France in January.
The Kazakh defeated Jack Sock in his opening-round match, beating the American 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. He then turned in a much-improved performance against Andy Murray, getting past the Brit in two closely-contested sets.