"Time for Andrey Rublev to take action towards his anger issues" - Fans react to Russian's disqualification in Dubai SF after screaming at line umpire

Andrey Rublev faced a shocking disqualification from the 2024 Dubai Tennis Championships on Friday, bringing a bitter end to his run at the ATP 500 event.

Facing off against Alexander Bublik, the Russian took the first set in a tiebreaker before Bublik returned the favor in the second set. With the scores at 5-5 40-30 in the Kazakh's service game, a close line call went in favor of Bublik, sealing him the game. Rublev, however, believed the call was wrong and that the point should have been his - which would have given him deuce.

With the point being crucial, Andrey Rublev did not let the call go silently, instead getting up in the face of the line umpire and yelling at him. Allegedly, the World No. 5 called him a "f**king moron," which resulted in an immediate default from the tournament instead of just a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Although Rublev reportedly questioned the decision, claiming that he did not use an expletive, tennis fans on social media thought that the final decision of the tournament referee was right in this case. Rublev has been notorious for his anger issues on tour over the years and has often been spotted indulging in self-harming behavior on the court.

Now that his emotional outburst has manifested in a worse manner, fans hoped Rublev would take this as a sign that it is time for him to work on resolving his anger issues.

"Look, swearing or not, you can't scream in officials' faces and get away with it every time. Time for Rublev to take action towards resolving his anger issues," one fan wrote.

"Can’t abuse officials like that. Hoping Rublev learns a lot from this. I almost don’t even care whether he swore or not. The act of getting in the official’s face and intimidating him like that warrants a disqualification," another said.

Here are a few more reactions from fans:

Andrey Rublev loses all ranking points and prize money from Dubai because of disqualification

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships - Day 13

As a result of his disqualification, Andrey Rublev will now lose all the prize money and ranking points he would have otherwise gained from the Dubai Tennis Championships. The Russian stood to make more than $150,000 for reaching the semifinals, as well as 180 ranking points.

Rublev reached the final last year, losing to Daniil Medvedev in the final. As a result of not defending those points, he will now exit the top five in the ATP rankings, and will be replaced by Alexander Zverev come Monday.