"I was not sleeping in nightmares" - Andrey Rublev casts mind back to controversial Dubai disqualification as he returns

Andrey Rublev recently revisited his controversial disqualification from last year's Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships at the semifinal stage. Rublev won the ATP 500 event in 2022 and finished as the runner-up in 2023, and this year, he is again aiming to do well at the tournament on the back of a resurgent title-winning campaign at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.

During his 2024 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semifinal clash against Alexander Bublik, Andrey Rublev lost his cool and lashed out at a line umpire. Soon, the Russian was disqualified on allegations of having used foul language, which he vehemently denied. As a result, Bublik reached the final, which he would eventually end up losing to Ugo Humbert.

Speaking at a pre-tournament press conference ahead of the 2025 edition of the ATP 500 tournament, Rublev cast his mind back to the disqualification. According to the World No. 9, the incident didn't affect him too significantly.

"It’s all forgotten. I didn't think about it until you asked now. I hope, yeah, it's all forgotten. To be honest, I don't know if it sounds good or bad, but it didn't bother me. I was not sleeping in nightmares or something like that, you know? Or having fears to go to play matches, no," Rublev said.

The former No. 5 also suggested that such incidents are part and parcel of the sport, and life in general.

"Things happen sometimes. Sometimes you cross the line and they punish you, fair. Sometimes maybe you don't do anything and they punish you, not fair. Sometimes maybe you cross the line and no one realises and no one punishes you. So, it's life," he added.

Rublev didn't get off to the best of starts in the 2025 tennis season. However, he seems to have steadied the ship after a resurgent run to the title in Doha.

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Andrey Rublev started 2025 season with two disastrous results; has been more like his usual self since them

In Picture: Andrey Rublev with the 2025 Qatar ExxonMobil Open trophy (Source: Getty)

The 2025 Hong Kong Open marked Andrey Rublev's first competitive outing of the ongoing tennis season. Shockingly though, the 2024 champion in Hong Kong suffered a loss in his opening match of the ATP 250 tournament, a second-round clash against the tricky Fabian Marozsan.

Next, at the Australian Open, Brazilian teenage prodigy Joao Fonseca stunned the Russian in the first round. Rublev's results since then though, have improved. He reached the semis and the quarters of the Open Occitanie and the ABN AMRO Open, respectively, before sealing the Qatar ExxonMobil Open title for the second time in his career.

At the 2025 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Rublev is the No. 3 seed in the men's singles draw, and is set to start his campaign with a first-round match against Quentin Halys.