Andrey Rublev was not happy with the umpire’s call during his semifinal match at the 2023 Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) Grand Final in London.
After winning his group in the round-robin stage without losing a match, the Russian player certainly had his sight set at the top prize in London, as no player seemed to be able to match him.
Andrey “Rublo” Rublev dominated with his power, and he wanted to do the same also in the semifinal match against Holger “The Viking” Rune, but he couldn’t.
The young Danish player won the first quarter of the match, and then also the following two, booking his spot in the final. But it wasn’t without controversy.
The key moment came in the second quarter of the match. Down 9-11, Rublev requested to play his “next point counts x3” card, which he thought the umpire activated.
He went on to win the following point, and the point after that, thinking the score of the quarter was 13-11, and that he had two quarter points to finish off the second part of the match.
However, when the umpire called 11-11, both Rublev and his coach were surprised, as the Russian player started a long argument with the umpire, the match referee, and ultimately also Patrick Mouratoglou, who owns the tournament.
In the following quarter, “Rublo” couldn’t lose any more quarters as that would mean that he would be eliminated from the tournament, however, things were not looking good.
With scoreboard showing 10-11, the Russian needed to win the next point, and he did, leveling the score of the third quarter to 11-11.
After that, he wanted to use his “next point counts x3” card, but to make sure that the umpire sees him, Rublev climbed up his chair, shoving his fingers into his face.
It was not a nice sight, as the Russian was clearly angry, while the moment was not pleasant to the umpire, who seemed to be telling something to Rublev. Ultimately, “Rublo” lost the match in the following seconds.
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