Andrey Rublev admits his outburst at UTS London was "unacceptable", explains why the incident provoked him

Andrey Rublev has admitted that his outburst during his encounter against Holger Rune at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) in London was "unacceptable."

Rublev squared off against Rune in the semifinals of the exhibition event on Sunday, December 17. Following the first quarter which was dominated by Rune, Rublev saw himself trailing the Dane 8-10 in the second quarter.

At this stage, Rublev signaled the chair umpire to use his bonus card which would have earned him three points for the next point. However, a miscommunication saw the umpire allowing Rune the same advantage.

Rublev yelled at the umpire for missing his signal, before losing the quarter 11-12. The Russian even threatened to entirely quit the event if he was not allowed a replay.

Reflecting on the incident, Rublev accepted that he was not happy with his behavior and that he was just caught up in the heat of the moment.

"It is what it is. The moment was very emotional and I should maybe react a bit different but I was just a bit disappointed," Andrey Rublev said as quoted by the Express.

The World No. 5 explained that he felt disappointed after all his efforts turned out worthless following the incident.

"When you run for every point, long rallies, a very intense match, the heart rate is very high and then this situation happens, you feel very disappointed and all your work was for nothing," he added.

He went on to give a detailed explanation of his side of the events.

"I started to show three [fingers], I didn’t say it but I was showing it and then the screen said bonus card so I was thinking it’s my three points. I won the rally and in my head I was 11-10 up and then I won one more point so in my head I was 12-10 up. But, it was that it was the three-point card for Rune, he lost it, it was 10-9, then when the time was over it was 11-11 and not 12-10 for me," he said.

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Andrey Rublev feels the umpire's decision should have been overruled given it was an exhibition event

Rublev at the UTS Grand Final London

During the same interaction, Andrey Rublev opined that the chair umpire's initial call to award Holger Rune the bonus card should have been overruled. as it was an exhibition event.

Rublev said the officials should have checked the replay on who called for the card first.

"It’s not the ATP where if they make a decision, even if they make a mistake, it [stays] like this. It’s an exhibition so we can play a more fair game here so that’s what I was asking, just check on a replay who was the first one and that’s it," Rublev stated.

Rune went on to beat Andrey Rublev to advance to the final. He locked horns with Jack Draper for the title. The Dane got off to a flying start, claiming the first quarter. However, his opponent turned around the one-quarter deficit to eventually win the match 3-1.