"What does this teach our children? That it's ok to bully lines people?" - Fans fume as Andrey Rublev retains Dubai prize money and ranking points

Andrey Rublev will get to keep the ranking points and prize money he earned at the Dubai Tennis Championships, despite being disqualified from the tournament. This decision has sparked anger among tennis fans around the globe.

Rublev reached the semifinals in Dubai by defeating Zhang Zhizhen, Arthur Cazaux, and Sebastian Korda. He faced Alexander Bublik in the last four on March 1 and the Kazakhstani pushed the match to three sets after losing the first.

Things took a turn for the worse for Rublev though as he got disqualified from the tournament for unsportsmanlike conduct as he was accused of using profanity while arguing with a line judge about a call he disagreed with. As a result, Bublik was declared the winner with a score of 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-5.

Andrey Rublev denied the allegation afterwards and was initially going to lose all his prize money and ranking points from the Dubai Tennis Championships until the ATP reinstated them on March 4.

Now, the Russian has been fined $36,400 for his actions, which will be deducted from his $157,755 prize money. Additionally, he earned 200 ranking points for reaching the semifinals.

Tennis fans have now expressed their outrage on X (formerly Twitter) regarding the ATP's latest decision. One user wrote:

"So as long as you don’t scream an F bomb or use foul language, it’s totally okay to be a few inches away from the official with a racquet in your hand and scream at the top of your lungs directly into their face. Got it, good to know."

Another posted:

"What does this teach our children? That it’s ok to bully lines people?"

One account tweeted:

"Whatever the case, this doesn’t change the fact that his behavior on court has been getting worse recently. And if he doesn’t find a way to process his rage in a healthier manner, this is going to keep happening."

Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans to Andrey Rublev retaining his 2024 Dubai Tennis Championships' prize money and ranking points:

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Andrey Rublev: "I promise I will learn from this and will try to be a better player and person"

Andrey Rublev pictured at the 2024 Dubai Tennis Championships

After the ATP reinstated his prize money and ranking points from the 2024 Dubai Tennis Championships, Andrey Rublev thanked the officials on his Instagram Stories.

"I want to thank the appeal committee for approving my appeal and changing course on the ATP's initial decision of disqualifying me from the Dubai semifinal and taking away the rankings points and prize money I earned last week," he wrote.

Rublev also mentioned that although he was "disappointed" not to finish his semifinal match against Alexander Bublik, he was "grateful" for all the support and vowed to become a better player and person.

"While I am disappointed that I wasn’t able to finish my semifinal in Dubai, I am grateful for all the support I had from you the last two days, I received a lot of messages. Thank you to everyone supporting me, I promise I will learn from this and will try to be a better player and better person," the 26-year-old continued.