Alexander Bublik found his way past
Ben Shelton 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 in a battle of tennis showmen at the
Madrid Open. But instead of the match, it was more the early getup that was the issue for the Kazakh in one of the most entertaining interviews of the year.
"The key was just to wake up, 11 o'clock is a pretty rough start for me. I played maybe twice all year at 11, I was victorious on both occasions. It's tough to work at 11. I woke up at like 7, who wakes up at 7. You're a professional tennis player, top 20 you don't need to wake up. You can relax more in your life already," said Tennis Channel.
"In the second set I was definitely better in returning. I was looking at my watch like I have another 30-40 minutes until my body wakes up so I can start operating."
Asked if he cares about the statistics, he said the only one he cares about is aces and he also explained that his coach also shares the uber relaxed mentality suddenly going away after this match.
"I look at aces, that's the only thing I care (about). You have more information than my coach. He has no idea. He's more relaxed than me, so we keep it that way. He told me today like man I've got to go home. I have Masters here and Rome, he was like I have to go home brother, with all the respect play yourself. I said French Open starts on Sunday, he said I'll come on Friday."
But it is all about the bigger picture for Bublik who wants to make people get their money's worth. "I always thought that tennis was really boring. I thought that ok imagine you pay the tickets, you go on Sunday. Instead of being with your family drinking wine you go and see some Sascha Bublik v Coric like it's 32 minutes, 6-1, 2-1 like come on do something."
Being a career high of no.17, he doesn't care particularly about goals. "I don't really care, not being sarcastic here. I think the most important thing is to be happy and enjoy what I do. If I'm destined to be in top 10, I will be one day. If not it doesn't really matter to me."