‘Putting us in cages’ – Alexander Bublik defends Nick Kyrgios against stricter ATP punishments
Alexander Bublik has come to the defence of Nick Kyrgios by saying “sport is supposed to have emotion” and that Kyrgios’ fireworks attract capacity crowds.
With an increase in racket and umpire abuse since the turn of the new season, the ATP have been forced to take a stricter stance in regards to such offences.
Amongst those who have been fined for such code violations are US Open victor and World number two Daniil Medvedev, World number five Alexander Zverev, American youngster Jenson Brooksby and most notably Australian Open doubles winner Nick Kyrgios.
Australian icon Kyrgios has been involved in controversial incidents in the last three tournaments he has competed in.
In his Indian Wells Masters quarter-finals loss to Rafael Nadal, Kyrgios slammed his racket into the court and an unfortunate bounce sent the stray racket hurtling towards an innocent ball boy’s head.
Then at the Miami Open, Kyrgios was fined for four separate code violations in the same match. In his fourth round loss to Jannik Sinner, Kyrgios criticised the court conditions, launched into an irate rant against the chair umpire and struck his racket bag in anger.
Finally, after the chair umpire admittedly made a mistake at last week’s Houston Men’s Clay Court Championships, Kyrgios berated the umpire once again.
Speaking to Tennis Channel after beating Swiss great Stan Wawrinka, Bublik said “Nick brings tonnes of fans, what are they here for?
“This is sport, it’s supposed to be a bit of emotion and they try to put in some kind of a cage where we cannot talk.
“I am 24 and I see who brings attendances and fans to the game. Have you ever seen doubles fans? No. He brings doubles fans.
“Sometimes he does something not appropriate for tennis and they want to make a cage even tighter for us.
“I don’t think it’s good for sport, maybe if you are 65 and you come with your grandkids and they don’t want to hear bad words, but the reality is in America the stadiums were full. Australia they were filled, everywhere.
“For me, I am not a fan of it (the harsh punishments), we should have more room.
“I think we need people who bring attendances. Of course you cannot do certain things and you need to be punished, but let us talk, don’t look at us every minute when we talk.”
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