Alexander Bublik may have landed himself in more controversy following his comments about Hubert Hurkacz.
Bublik enjoyed a breakout season in 2025, winning four ATP titles and reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open.
After winning his ninth career ATP title in Hong Kong at the start of the year, Bublik broke into the top 10 for the first time.
Despite achieving the best results of his career over the past 12 months, Bublik still gets involved in controversy, which continued during his first round match at the Rotterdam Open.
Alexander Bublik explains comments he made about Hubert Hurkacz
Bublik beat Hurkacz, 6(2)-7 7-6(1) 7-5, in his first round match at the Rotterdam Open, despite his opponent serving for the match in the second set.
While the match was eventful in itself, this was only heightened by comments Bublik made on court.
Who will win the 2026 Rotterdam Open?
Bublik was on a six-match losing streak against Hurkacz coming into their match at the Rotterdam Open, and expressed his frustration at drawing the Pole.
“There are like 20 people in the draw who can’t play tennis,” Bublik was heard saying. “And I draw him. Why me?”
Bublik was heard discussing Hurkacz’s game, claiming that he was Novak Djokovic compared to his opponent.
He said, “Ace, Ace, Double Fault, Shank, Shank, Ace, Ace. They tell me I have no rhythm? I’m Djokovic compared to him”.
When asked about these comments after fighting back to win the match, Bublik claimed that he was not criticising Hurkacz.
“I was not criticizing him, I was just stating the fact that he only made aces, double faults and a shank,” Bublik told press after the match, as reported by Bolavip. “I looked like Djokovic because I actually had a rhythm, that is it.
“Well about the comment on the draw, I just meant what I said about getting him in my draw. He is the only player in the draw I have that bad of a head-to-head against. Except for Daniil [Medvedev], but he was seeded, so I couldn’t play him in the first round. I guess that was what I meant.”
While Bublik has clarified his stance on the situation, Hurkacz did not appear to want to get involved in any drama.
Hurkacz said, “I don’t have any comments on that.”
Alexander Bublik disagrees with what Daniil Medvedev has said about the balls in Rotterdam
His mid-match comments were not the only thing that Bublik spoke about after his win in Rotterdam.
While Bublik made it through his first round match at the Rotterdam Open, former world number one Daniil Medvedev did not.
During his defeat to Ugo Humbert, Medvedev was heard complaining to the umpire about the balls used at the Rotterdam Open.
Medvedev said, “HEAD balls, are they round? It is round? Are you sure because I see it not round, I see it with a bit of, how you say it, narrow. I don’t know how you call it.
“It’s a bit of… let’s see, scars. So it’s not super round. Isn’t it strange? So I think maybe we should consider not playing with HEAD balls.
“HEAD Tour XT balls is not round so we should not be playing with it, nobody should be buying it. We should not be promoting a tennis ball that is not round.”
Medvedev is not the only player to have complained about this issue, with both Alex de Minaur and Arthur Fils echoing his comments.
If you could change one rule in tennis what would it be and why?
However, Bublik is not on the same page and actually praised the balls used in Rotterdam compared to the ATP 250 tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan, which is the country he represents.
Bublik said, “Compared to what we played in Astana, this is a beautiful ball and a beautiful fast court,”
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
