"They've taken Andrey Rublev's voice away, he has to conform to whatever has been thrown at him" - Jimmy Connors on Russian's Dubai disqualification

Eight-time Major winner Jimmy Connors recently gave his two cents on Andrey Rublev being disqualified from his semifinal match at the 2024 Dubai Tennis Championships for unsportsmanlike conduct after he shouted and reportedly threw expletives at a line umpire.

The World No. 5 and his opponent, Alexander Bublik, were going blow-for-blow in the deciding set of their three-set last-four encounter in Dubai on Friday (March 1) when all hell broke loose. Following a dubious call that cost him the 11th game of the set, the Russian vented his frustrations to a line judge, prompting the latter to complain to the umpire.

Andrey Rublev was later told by the tournament supervisor that the line judge had alleged that the 26-year-old called him a "f***ing moron". Although the Russian refuted the accusations, he was ultimately defaulted from the match and Bublik went through 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-5.

The controversy has since attracted diverse views from the tennis universe. Jimmy Connors, who was himself infamous for his outbursts during his career, also chimed in on the topic during his 'Advantage Connors' podcast on Sunday (March 3). The American insisted that it was wrong of the umpire to default the Russian instead of giving him a warning or a point penalty first for the above incident.

Connors also alleged that the Dubai Open officials had taken Andrey Rublev's 'voice' away from him and that he had to 'conform to whatever has been thrown at him.'

"[To] default them, you know, not give them a warning, not give them a point penalty, but just saying, 'You're done'... I'm passionate about this, only because they've taken away the voice of a player," the American said on his podcast (15:19). "They've totally taken his voice away, you know, to where he has to go and conform to whatever has been thrown at him. You know, 'the ball was out', I can't question it... you can't question that, you just gotta go along with that."

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"Where is there to go but in reverse?" - Andrey Rublev's DQ upsets Jimmy Connors about the state of affairs in tennis

Andrey Rublev has a back-and-forth with the on-court supervisor in Dubai

Jimmy Connors also disapproved of the line judge complaining to the umpire about Andrey Rublev.

"That's what it's come down to, where is there to go but in reverse? If you're bringing guys, 'I'm gonna snitch on you, you better not say anything, I want to tell on you,'" Connors said during his podcast (4:00). "Jesus Christ, that's back in the second grade! The hell's going on here? These guys are out there playing their a** off for three hours, 6-5 in the third set, and you got somebody coming out of the stands saying... oh my god!

The American asserted that mercurial top players of the last century like himself, John McEnroe, Ilie Nastase, and Vitas Gerulaitis would struggle to stay in line with today's rules on the ATP Tour, which he felt were hurting tennis as a product.

"Connors, McEnroe, Nastase, Gerulaitis, let me go through the list of guys who would've never made it through the tournament! Get rid of that line-calling thing and let these guys argue their own way and understand what it means to hit a great shot, be rewarded for it, or hit a great shot, know that it's good, and be screwed too. Oh my god! They're taking all the excitement and the crowd appeal, bringing the crowd down too," he added.