Rublev blames Wimbledon's grass court rules for repeated racket smashing despite being a regular occurrence

Wednesday, 03 July 2024 at 09:18

Despite it becoming a theme of Andrey Rublev's game, the World No.6 blamed the rules in place at Wimbledon about damaging the grass courts as to why he decided to again smash his racket off his knee.

Rublev's frustrations boiled over again during his loss to Francisco Comesana on Tuesday. He lost out 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(5) in the end with the Argentine producing a commanding and frustrating display if you are Rublev. However despite the win being superb from Comesana, it was his anger issues that hit the spotlight again. Trailing by two breaks, he again started teeing off on his knee thumping his racket off it.

He said in his post match press conference that he had no choice in the matter due to his frustration and that he wants to improve but it is a process.

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"I wouldn’t have done it if I could hit the racket on the ground, but we are not allowed to hit the grass in any way. I don’t know why I did that at that moment, I couldn’t stand it anymore, I needed to let my emotions out," he said.

"Luckily, everything is fine now, once again I had a bit of luck. Now I want to focus on improving myself, but I know that this is a process and it takes time."

While he praised his opponent for his manner of victory and said that it is firmly now back to the drawing board.

"There is not much I can say in terms of having many opportunities, many opportunities, but I was not able to. My opponent was playing very well, with a 10-point mentality, so that is why he deserves to win […] That is all," he said.

"It’s the main thing I need to improve, of course. Even though I didn’t perform as badly today as I did in Paris, I know I could have done a lot better. This is not the way, I know that, so the priority right now is to be able to stay positive throughout the match."

Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief

Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.

Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.

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