WATCH: Alexander Bublik obliterates three rackets in the space of 30 seconds

ATP Tour
Alexander Bublik gestures to the crowd

The mercurial Alexander Bublik could soon find himself experiencing a racket shortage, especially if he continues to smash them into oblivion at the rate of knots.

Bublik won his one and only ATP singles title at the Open Sud de France last year, but his title defence came to a disastrous end in the first round on Wednesday.

He not only lost the match, but also his cool and three rackets as he went down in three sets against local hope Gregoire Barrere.

World No 75 Barrere made the better start as he broke in game 10 of the opening set and after no breaks of serve in the second set, it went to a tie-breaker. The Frenchman initially saved two set points before finding himself with a match point at 8-7, but this time the world No 50 held firm and he went on to save two more match points before edging the tie-breaker.

Bublik then had the initial advantage in the decider as broke to go 2-4 up, but Barrere hit back immediately and the rest of the set went according to serve.

Barrere then raced into a 6-0 lead in the tie-breaker and then all hell broke loose from Bublik’s end as he smashed three rackets.

It either gave Bublik a boost or put Barrere off as the Kazakh player saved another three match points to reduce the deficit to 6-3, but Barrere eventually got the job done to secure a 6-4, 6-7 (12-14), 7-6 (7-3) victory in two hours and 28 minutes.

Bublik, of course, is known for doing ridiculous things during matches and by ridiculous we don’t mean underarm serves and tweeners. We are referring to using the handle of his racket to play shots.

Last year at the Moselle Open he took on Lorenzo Sonego in the final and found himself 7-6 (7-3), 3-1 behind when he decided it was time to pull off the trick.

He went on to lose the match 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.

Back to February 2023 and up next for Barrere is Nikolos Basilashvili while the winner of that clash could face top seed Holger Rune in the quarter-final. The Dane takes on Marc-Andrea Hüsler in the second round on Thursday.

Second seed Jannik Sinner was also due to be in action, but the Italian received a walkover into the quarter-final after Marton Fucsovics withdrew due to a foot injury.

Alexander Bublik Gregoire Barrere

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