"Andrey Rublev shade assassin who knew" - Tennis fans react as Russian becomes the latest player to 'drag' ATP over poor scheduling at Paris Masters

Andrey Rublev overcame a one-set deficit to defeat 13th-seeded Alex De Minaur in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Paris Masters on Friday (November 3). In his on-court interview after the win, the Russian took umbrage at ATP over his match being scheduled late.

Rublev's last-eight match against De Minaur in Paris-Bercy ended at around 1.30am. He disclosed that it would take him at least two and a half hours until he could get to bed following his dinner, treatment and travel from the Accor Arena in Paris.

"[To get to sleep after a match like this] First of all I have dinner, treatment, arrive to the hotel, take a shower... I will go to sleep at 4, 5? Crazy. Amazing schedule, thank you! I am in the council of ATP and... ATP, we are together!" Andrey Rublev said in his interview.

The tennis community on social media backed Andrey Rublev's complaints. In fact, a few of them were surprised by the Russian speaking out against ATP, as he usually maintains a cool demeanor. One fan encapsulated the above sentiments perfectly, writing:

"Audrey Rublev shade assassin who knew."

Another fan stated that the ATP's state of affairs had not only bothered Andrey Rublev, but many other players.

"Tell em king @atptour. Y'all ignore this, right? Is there anyone else who hasn't said this, this week? Even Andrey Rublev who never complains, spoke up," they wrote.

Here are a few more reactions from social media:

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Andrey Rublev's sentiments regarding poor scheduling at Paris Masters shared by Stan Wawrinka and Casper Ruud

Jannik Sinner was forced to withdraw from his third-round match in Paris

The Paris Masters organizers and ATP first attracted the ire of tennis fans on Wednesday (November 1), when Jannik Sinner was forced to pull out from his Round-of-16 outing in Paris-Bercy.

The Italian's physical conditioning had taken a hit after his previous match against Mackenzie McDonald. The match went to the third set and finished at 3am, contributing to his withdrawal from his next match at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament — which was scheduled less than 12 hours after his second-round victory.

"I am sorry to announce that I am withdrawing from today's match in Bercy. I finished the match when it was almost 3 in the morning and didn't go to bed until a few hours later. I had less than 12 hours to rest and prepare for the next game," Sinner said in his statement on social media.

Casper Ruud and Stan Wawrinka subsequently denounced ATP on their social media handles over Sinner's withdrawal due to poor scheduling. Ruud even went as far as to call the men's governing body's decision-making a "joke".

“Bravo ATP tour; way to help one of the best players in the world recover and be as ready as possible when he finished his previous match at 2:37 am this morning 14.5 hours to recover.. what a joke,” Ruud wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Wawrinka, meanwhile, asserted that ATP and the tournament organizers are equally to be blamed for the ruckus in Paris.

“It’s crazy. Tournament doesn’t care and ATP just follow what the tournament will want! Always the same story,” Wawrinka wrote.