"I said couple of things in my life I regret" - Alexander Bublik opens up about uproar over Nadal & Murray comments, Top 20 plans & more in Exclusive

Silence is better than unmeaning words, and Alexander Bublik has realized that in his life on more than a couple of occasions. This, however, wasn't the case with his recent comments on Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, landing him in hot water.

Alexander Bublik took the battleground in the Australian Open main draw in singles for the seventh time in his career this year but failed to win a match for the third year in a row. This time, he lost 7-6(1), 6-3, 6-2 to seed No. 31 Francisco Cerundolo.

Alexander Bublik tried his luck in the doubles as well, teaming up with fellow Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko but met the same fate. The duo lost 6-4, 6-1 to the pair of Ariel Behar and Robert Galloway in the first round.

Alexander Bublik, however, isn't leaving Melbourne without creating a buzz, though for the wrong reasons. In an interview with Russian media house Match TV before the tournament, Alexander Bublik remarked he wasn't pleased to see Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, having turned "bald and old," struggling on the court in the last phase of their tennis careers.

Alexander Bublik's comments caused a massive uproar, with many in the tennis community claiming he didn't respect the legends. The Kazakh, however, debunked all of such claims in an exclusive conversation with Sportskeeda at the 2025 Australian Open.

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Alexander Bublik Exclusive at Australian Open 2025

Alexander Bublik (Getty)

Sportskeeda: Tough results in singles and doubles, how do you sum up this campaign?

Alexander Bublik: Well, it’s been never easy for me in Australia unfortunately, so, the idea of the beginning of the season for me specifically is to get as many matches under my belt as possible. That’s why I always play doubles here. I tried to play doubles in Adelaide but my partner decided to quit. But we did it before the tournament so I did not play doubles there but yeah, try to get as many matches under my belt because, for me, it’s very tough to play in Australia. I don’t know for what reason, I tried different preparations throughout the years. My coach said, we always have new thoughts of how to develop the game because we work hard throughout, you know, two months after Paris, maybe have six weeks of the off-season around that time. But you arrive here and everything is different and then you have new things to work on.

Sportskeeda: You've been a Top 20 player... not very far still [No. 37] but how do you plan to regain your best level?

Alexander Bublik: The plan is always simple. You know, there’s no secret in tennis… it’s just hard work. You just try to work on your things, try to work smart, try to avoid injuries. Be healthy, work smart, so you have to work on the correct things because you may be working on certain shots that make no sense for you specifically but make sense for someone else. It’s just work smart, dedicate your time towards tennis, on a daily basis and then you wait… you never know when you’re gonna get lucky but you have to be ready for it.

Sportskeeda: What do you mean by 'get lucky'?

Alexander Bublik: That’s the idea of my tennis… I’m not sure when I’m gonna be feeling well, by lucky I mean feeling well, opponents not doing well or circumstances are benefitting me. It’s happened in Halle [2023] where I played under the closed roof for one week. So, for me, I have to wait till Montpellier, I have to defend the title there. I have to work and see how it goes. If it doesn’t go well, fine… we’ll try another week.

Sportskeeda: So, sometimes your comments may cause an uproar, and that often brings harsh criticism, how do you deal with that?

Alexander Bublik: I think criticism is part of every famous person’s life, some people love you, some people don’t, some people criticize your words, some adore your words. For me, as long as I’m aware of what I’m saying, as long as I’m certain about what I said, you know, that’s how I feel… of course, I said a couple of things that I said in my life that I regret. But most of them, if you’re talking about the recent, it was a bit lost in the translation. What I meant was like I don’t wanna see them like this… because it was in Russian, and it was a quick interview, it came up huge. What I tried to say in that sentence… not ‘bald and old’ I tried to say that I don’t want to see them like this. They’re legends. They’re winning Slams. I mean, come on, it’s something on the other planet for a player like me. Seeing them like this, it hurts us, it’s tough and that’s what I actually meant. Maybe I misused the words, that’s my fault. But I know what I actually meant, people in the locker room know what I actually meant. That’s a pity that I turned out like this but I’m not really affected by that because I know what I meant. But now it’s good, they’re not playing anymore… so I see them happy, what can I say?

Sportskeeda: Do you think Rafael Nadal received an appropriate farewell?

Alexander Bublik: I watched the match, of course, when he played against Botic [van de Zandschulp], I watched the farewell but I don’t think that there’s such thing as not enough or too much. If that would be like with fireworks… people would say it’s too much. I think if Rafa was happy in that moment, happy about how things stopped for him, I think that’s the most important thing. The speculation about saying that it’s not enough or too much… it’s useless talk. If he’s happy… that’s not a question. We’re not raising a question on how other guys finished… Roger [Federer] was fine or too much? You never know.

Sportskeeda: You've obviously mentioned that you were not happy to watch some of the big players struggle toward the end of their careers... how do you see yourself bidding farewell to this sport?

Alexander Bublik: Rafa was still fine. Rafa played one final in Bastad, and lost to [Alexander] Zverev, who’s one of the best three in the world, played Olympics, and Davis Cup. You know, I stopped practicing when Rafa was playing Zverev but no one knows it because I’m not sharing that. I don’t think that it’s necessary for me to share everything that I do or I think. But when he went to the court, I went to the TV because it was a great match. Andy [Murray]… it was tough for me to see because I played Andy towards the end of his career like four times and I was always honest with him, you know, I played Andy when I was 19 years old at Wimbledon, he was No. 1. So when I beat him a couple of times, I told him, ‘I’m lucky because basically you’re not playing anymore, you’re not the same.’ You cannot be the same with so many injuries but I felt it was not the right thing. But he’s happy here, happy to see him on the court laughing, I’ve never seen him laugh so much so it’s good. And for me, you know, I don’t think there will be much of a farewell.

Sportskeeda: How many titles do you see yourself winning before retiring?

Alexander Bublik: I have like four titles now… imagine I get 10… it’s a good career. If I get six more in the next six or seven years. I’m 28 this year, so in eight years I’ll be 36, so if I win six titles, I will have 10. Of course, I’ll have my fans in Kazakhstan, Russia, Italy, France… I may fill a couple of stadiums. But the most important is to have my loved ones next to me, to have a good laugh, a good cry… that’s it. I don’t think it will be such a big fuss. Tennis TV will make a video of me… 350 times with underarm serve and tweeners and everything. But for me, as I said many times, I wanna leave happy, with a smile on my face, knowing that I’ve done everything I could.