A few weeks ago, Andrey Rublev found himself in hot water for yelling at a line judge during his semifinal match against Alexander Bublik at the Dubai Tennis Championships 2024. Rublev was immediately disqualified from the match for his outburst after another official alleged that he verbally abused the line judge. Reportedly, at a crucial point in the third set, Rublev called the line judge a ‘f**king moron.’
Rublev insisted on his innocence, claiming he never uttered the offensive word, but his plea was ignored. However, his ranking points and prize money were retained, albeit with a $36,400 deduction. The Russian athlete later criticized the punishment, calling it excessive in comparison to his prior experiences with such incidents.
His semifinal opponent, Alexander Bublik, ultimately did not win the tournament, finishing second to France’s Ugo Humbert.
Rublev told Sports Express that there was video evidence of the incident that showed he did not say the words attributed to him. This evidence helped him regain his rating points. The 26-year-old has previously had a strong performance at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Centre, where he finished as a runner-up in 2023 after losing to fellow Russian Daniil Medvedev in the final.
