Andy
Roddick shared his thoughts on
Andrey Rublev's recent outburst at the Paris
Masters, where the Russian vented his frustration while playing against World
No. 29 Francisco Cerúndolo. Rublev lost a close match, 6-7(6), 6-7(5), exiting
the tournament in his opening round.
During the
first set, after losing a point in the tie-break, the 27-year-old tennis player
repeatedly hit himself on the knee with his racket, striking it seven times,
which caused a cut on his leg and left him bleeding. His frustration didn’t end
there, as he later threw a bottle forcefully onto the ground during a
changeover.
"Rublev is someone that everyone likes"
Former
World No. 1
Andy Roddick discussed Rublev’s on-court outbursts and the frequent
warnings he has received. “Can we have, like, ‘We’re not hitting ourselves’ as
an option? Because, obviously, if you could break your racket on the deck, you
would do that, but I just feel like breaking a racket on a court is a way
lesser of evil than, like, self-harm out there, right?” mentioned the American
on his podcast
Served with Roddick.“At what
point do you have to give them warnings? Do you have to penalize them for this?
Because this behavior, you know, it’s being seen by younger players, it’s being
seen by... and I know not everybody wants to be a sports role model or should
be required to be, but at some point it is a bit ridiculous, right?”
Roddick
defended that Rublev’s on-court attitude is a way of coping with frustration
during matches, emphasizing that he doesn’t behave the same way off-court: “We
can’t say it enough, that Rublev is someone that everyone likes, respects on
Tour. It’s not like he has this behavior in the locker room; he’s beloved on
Tour. But also, the thing that’s a little concerning is the frequency with
which we see it,” Roddick commented.