Andrey Rublev has been chucked out of the Dubai Open after shouting at a line judge during a tense semi-final with Alexander Bublik.
Bublik and Rublev were battling it out for a place in the final with the latter trailing 6-5 in the deciding set.
Just as Bublik won his game, Rublev vented his frustration at the baseline over what he felt was a missed call from the line judge to his left.
The world No 5 walked up to the line judge and shouted in his face and felt he missed an important call.
Andrey Rublev shouted at the line judge in his semi-final
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ATP supervisor Roland Herfel then made his way to the court along with a Russian speaker, who accused Rublev of swearing at the line judge in his native language.
Rublev pleaded his innocence with the ATP official, insisting he didn’t swear.
“I was not talking Russian,” he said.
“I was talking first of all in English, not Russian, second I can say he was talking in a bad way too.
“I didn’t say ‘f******’. I swear to God. This is huge. I swear to God.”
The offence would usually result in a warning for the player in the first instance, but umpire Miriam Bley announced the decision to default Rublev over the exchange.
Bublik appeared confused at the decision and wanted to continue playing the match.
There were loud boos from the crowd when the decision to disqualify Rublev was announced.
The default was also slammed by Rublev’s compatriot Daria Kasatkina, who called for video assistance to make such a big decision.
Andrey Rublev pleaded his innocence to the ATP official
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She wrote on X: “So you can just default a player, take his points and money away, without even checking a video replay???
“What a joke, another confirmation we need a VAR in tennis and electronic line calling on all tournaments.”
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Andrey Rublev complained to the line judge about a missed call
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Rublev will now have to forfeit all prize money and ranking points he picked up by reaching the semi-finals of the Dubai Open.
He will also drop down the world rankings as a result of being disqualified.
Bublik now moves on to this weekend’s final, where he will face Ugo Humbert.