Tempers boil over as Karen Khachanov obliterates racket following singles and doubles trouble at Canadian Open

When Andrey Rublev is on the court, things can get heated very quickly with the Russian fast to lose his temper at times. However, this incident did not involve him. Instead, it was doubles partner Karen Khachanov who was the one to smash his racket at the Canadian Open enroute to defeat.

It has been a frustrating time of late for Khachanov. He came to Montreal not in brilliant form following a disappointing campaign. The highlight had been a quarter-final run in Rome but he has not been able to hit the heights of last year, especially around this time.

He reached the final of the 2025 Canadian Open, losing in a three-set thriller to Ben Shelton with the wait for a second Masters 1000 triumph continuing. He has enjoyed good form in this tournament, reaching the semi-final stage in 2018 and 2019.

Along with the singles, he was playing in the doubles alongside fellow countryman Rublev. It is the fifth time the duo would team up this year.

All four players on the court were not natural doubles players, focusing on their singles career. Khachanov and Rublev would face Lorenzo Musetti and Matteo Arnaidi. It ended in the favour of the Italians who win 6-1, 3-6, 10-6.

The first set took just 24 minutes with Musetti and Arnaldi flying out of the blocks. The stormed into a 5-0 lead before seeing it out two games later. When 2-1 ahead on serve in the second set, Khachanov sent a return long.

Furious with the shot he had produced, the 30-year-old exploded with rage. He threw his racket to the ground in the direction of his teammate, who flinched. He picked it up and gave it back to him before Khachanov proceeded to slam it on the floor another three times before a lucky spectator was handed the broken racket. Khachanov got a new one, and play proceeded.

Khachanov and Rublev got back into the contest, breaking the serve before rebuffing a couple of chances to force the match to go the distance. The third set tiebreak was a hugely tense one with so much riding for both duos. After the Russians went 5-4 up, the evenly matched tiebreak took a turn with Musetti and Arnaldo pouncing. They would go on to win it 10-6, dropping one point from that moment to reach the last-16 where they lost to the seventh seeds.

Following his final run last year, Khachanov was under a lot of pressure to defend those points so valiantly won. It would not go to plan.

He is yet to pick up a set let alone a win in the North American hardcourt swing, falling down to Terence Atmane 6-4, 7-6(3) in the second round and is dumped out with a whimper.

In turn, a whole load of points will come off his ranking as he slips all the way down to 39th in the world. No more seeding privileges as he now looks to climb back up the order. The Cincinnati Open will be the next tournament he puts his focus in before the big one at Flushing Meadows will take place. A former US Open semi-finalist, Khachanov will be eager to get back to winning ways.