dpAlexander Bublik “pulverised” his tennis racket and cut his hand open after losing a close first set to Brandon Nakashima at the Shanghai Masters.
After carving out two set points that he was unable to take advantage of, Bublik lost the first-set tie-break 9-7 and immediately smashed his racket on the ground five times, crushing it.
The Kazakh then walked over to his chair for the changeover, kicking his destroyed racket en route before hitting his hand through the lid of a drinks cooler – sustaining an injury.
He had already directed angry comments at his team after missing the set points in third-round match, but his anger bubbled over when Nakashima fired a backhand winner down the line.
John Blom, the chair umpire, announced a code violation warning for unsportsmanlike conduct as one of the Sky Sports commentators declared that the racket has been “pulverised”.
To make matters worse for Bublik, the self-inflicted wound on his hand had started bleeding and he covered it with a towel before informing the umpire that he would need a physio, and a subsequent three-minute medical time-out.
After that, Bublik regained enough composure to hold serve at the start of the second set and went on to win the match 6-7, 6-3, 7-6.
