"Texting my coach maybe we should just pull out, who does work at 11": Alexander Bublik jokes on Rotterdam scheduling after Coric win

Over the past few days, the scheduling issues of Daria Kasatkina and Karolina Pliskova have been highlighted. But what about Alexander Bublik as the Kazakh described the difficulties he faced about playing in the morning after defeating Borna Coric at the Rotterdam Open.

Bublik defeated Coric in a repeat of the Montpellier final, but it began at around 11am local time and he joked hilariously post match after winning 6-3, 6-4 that he was close to withdrawing as who works at 11am. Safe to say he's not a morning person, but it didn't matter much as he still sealed the win over the Croat to reach the next round. He will now be hoping for a game later on in the session.

"Winning at 11 AM [the most pleasing part of his performance]. I haven't done this in the past 3 years so, I had no expectations when I saw the schedule. I was like 'Okay I won't be playing'. In the morning I was texting my coach around 7:30, last time I woke up 7:30 was before October. Before 10 you won't see me awake," said Bublik on Tennis Channel.

"I was texting my coach 'Maybe we should just pull out.' I mean I go to sleep 7:30. I mean, what is this for? Huh, tell me? So I'm really happy just to get through and I'm really happy with my performance, that I stayed there, I put the balls in the court, even though it was very difficult for me at such an early time, you know 11. Who does work at 11? I don't know. So yeah, I'm just happy to get through."