WATCH: Andrey Rublev lashes out at chair umpire over bad line calls during crucial moments of ATP Finals match against Daniil Medvedev
Andrey Rublev is currently competing in his third consecutive ATP Finals in Turin. He has been placed in the Red Group alongside former champions Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic. In his opening match-up, the Russian scored a commendable victory over his compatriot Medvedev, 6-7(7), 6-3, 7-6(7).
As the scoreline suggests, it was a match of close margins. Andrey Rublev went through a wide range of emotions throughout the encounter, and wrong calls by the line umpires in the tightly contested opening set provoked an angry outburst from the former World No. 5.
After failing to convert seven set points in the opener, Andrey Rublev lashed out at the chair umpire for having to replay points due to bad line calls in crucial moments. The first wrong call came when the younger Russian was leading 4-1 in the tie-breaker and one of his groundstrokes was wrongly called out. The second error occurred at set point for Daniil Medvedev when the pair had to replay the point despite Medvedev being unable to return Rublev’s first serve, which was mistaken to be a fault before the 25-year-old challenged it.
"4-1, took it 5-1. Serve? – That he didn’t return. Doesn’t matter how he called it! Two points! Two points on the tie-break! Two f*cking points on the f*cking tie-break. Two points! Two points!" he yelled at the chair umpire.
He, however, managed to hold his nerve after a rollercoaster opening set to claim his second consecutive victory over his compatriot.
Andrey Rublev has become fourth player to complete half century of ATP wins this season 💪
Do you know who are the first three? 🤔
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"I'm trying to work on it" – Andrey Rublev on managing his outbursts during tough moments
Andrey Rublev is known for having emotional outbursts during tense circumstances in his matches. The Russian also confessed to being unable to handle stressful situations. However, during his post-match presser after the ATP Finals victory over Daniil Medvedev, the World No. 7 revealed that he was working on his weaknesses.
"I'm trying to work on it. Obviously, I think the match today shows that I have improvements. It's just not easy to do it like this. It takes time. Especially me, myself, I have so much fire inside, it's double tougher for me. Every person (has) his own weaknesses. For some players it's tough to play aggressive," he said, "For some players it's tough to improve serve. For some players, it's tough to improve mental part."
"I guess I'm one of the ones who is tough to improve (on the) mental part, and it takes the most time. I mean, I'm improving it. I think the US Open shows it already. Today's match also (showed) this. But it takes time," he added.