"Easily the most stupid statement from a tennis player for a long time"- Alexander Bublik's comment on umpires after Andrey Rublev default angers fans

Alexander Bublik recently mentioned that taking away umpires from tennis would solve many issues amid Andrey Rublev's controversy in Dubai, which has angered fans.

Rublev was defaulted in his semi-final match against Bublik at the Dubai Tennis Championships following his outburst at a line judge. The game was in its deciding set when Bublik hit a return which according to the Russian had landed out. However, there was no call by the line judge and Rublev ended up losing the point and the game.

Rublev immediately proceeded to scream at the line judge asking him how he didn't see the ball landing out, following which he returned to court. After a while, an official came to the World No. 5 with another line judge, who spoke Russian and claimed that Rublev had called the line judge a 'f***ing moron' which led to the Russian being defaulted.

Bublik commented on the situation post-match where he said tennis cannot go on without players but claimed that umpires can be dispensed with.

"This is what we need to understand, that we cannot take players away, but we can easily take away the umpires, and that would solve many issues."

Fans disagreed with the Kazakh and took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their comments. One of the fans called Bublik's statement the stupidest statement made by a tennis player in a long time.

"Alexander Bublik with easily the most stupid statement from a tennis player for a long time," they wrote.

"'we don't need umpiring', we're rich and we wanna do whatever we like on court. Also, we want to be free to shout at anyone, smash the rackets, swear, and misbehave because we're p l a y e r s & this is what we do," another fan chimed in.

Here are some other reactions from fans:

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Alexander Bublik will play Ugo Humbert in the finals

Alexander Bublik at the Dubai Tennis Championships

Though the match didn't end the way he would have wanted, Alexander Bublik has made it to the finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships for the first time in his career. This will be Bublik's 11th ATP Tour final. The Kazakh will be looking to win his second singles title of the year and fifth overall.

Alexander Bublik will face Ugo Humbert in the finals, who defeated Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals 7-5, 6-3. This will be the first meeting between the two.