Andrey Rublev issues apology on camera for Dubai outburst – but hints official was wrong

Kevin Palmer
Andrey Rublev
Andrey Rublev reacts in front a linesman during his semi final match with Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Andrey Rublev has issued an apology for his behaviour after he was defaulted from the Dubai Tennis Championships following an angry outburst at a line judge, but he hinted he still believes he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

The hot-headed Russian was trailing 6-5 in the third against Alexander Bublik when he appeared to say something to the line judge, with the words used in that exchange the subject of heated debate in recent days.

ATP supervisor Roland Herfel came down to the court accompanied by a Russian speaker, who claimed Rublev had sworn in his native language.

Rublev passionately denies swearing at the official and it was clear that the ATP had sympathy with his pleas as they opted against a heavy punishment for the world No 5.

Players who are defaulted for poor behaviour can expect to lose their prize money and ranking points from the tournament in question, but the ATP have come up with a different conclusion.

Instead, they fined Rublev $36,400 and allowed him to keep his ranking points, with the Russian expressing his gratitude for the ATP’s appeal process as he posted this message on his social media platforms.

Rublev welcomed that decision as he issued these comments on his social media platforms: “I want to thank the appeal committee for approving my appeal and changing course on the ATPs initial decision of disqualifying me from the Dubai semifinal and taking away the rankings points and prize money I earned last week,” he stated.

READ MORE: Andrey Rublev demands change as ATP Tour deliver punishment for Dubai disqualification

“I hope that in the future, the ATP will take a closer look at this rule and make changes to it so that an official can’t force a match outcome without having clear evidence and not letting the player have a video review.

“While I am disappointed that I wasn’t able to finish my semifinal in Dubai, I am grateful for all the support I had from you the last two days, I received a lot of messages.

“Thank you to everyone supporting me, I promise I will learn from this and will try to be a better player and better person.”

Now, ahead of his second round match against Andy Murray at the Indian Wells Masters tournament, Rublev has issues a video apology, as he again hinted the official in question was wrong when he claimed the Russian player swore at him.

He also spoke to the media at Indian Wells and made these comments: “I’ve apologized several times. No, not hard at all because it was my fault and it’s unacceptable to behave like that, to raise my voice like that.

“No matter if it’s a line judge, a fan, or just a regular person. I am no one to allow myself such things doesn’t matter if a person has been correct or not.

“Such things are unacceptable in general, it’s disrespectful. So of course, I feel guilty about it, and I’m ashamed that I allowed myself to do such things.

“To be honest, I have been allowing myself similar things many times before that incident.

“It was also difficult because I was being accused of things I didn’t do.

“Of the words that I didn’t say. I talked to them, it was all discussed and watched, then, after the discussion you suddenly see that they’ve added even more words that you didn’t say.

“I just didn’t understand how, we’ve talked it over, you can see it clearly, you can hear it clearly. I just wanted to be fair.

“At least punish me fairly for what I’ve really done. For screaming at a person, for swearing at a person. It was indeed unacceptable to punish me for that.”

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