Alexander Bublik just can’t stop causing shockwaves at this year’s French Open.
Kazakhstan has a male tennis player in the quarter-final of a Grand Slam for the very first time after he came through a four-set match with Great Britain star Jack Draper.
Bublik produced a stunning array of shots to leave Draper stunned, and he’s now set up a mouthwatering last-eight prospect against world number one Jannik Sinner.
This is now the furthest that the 27-year-old has ever gone in a Grand Slam, and his win over Draper came on the back of a brilliant turnaround against Alex de Minaur when he found himself two sets behind.
John McEnroe delivers verdict on Alexander Bublik
It’s always great to see some new names reaching the latter stages of major tournaments, and Bublik doesn’t really have anything to lose right now.
The odds will be stacked firmly in favour of Sinner, but that won’t faze the world number 62, who will go into the match looking to upset the applecart once again.
McEnroe has made a claim about Bublik that he believes is quite scary, and he’s also recited how he once felt about picking him for Laver Cup duty some years ago.
He told TNT Sports: “Bublik has always been a talented guy, I shudder to think what he would have been like if he actually tried half of the time, he reminds me of (Nick) Kyrgios because it not just about winning or losing, I’ve heard him say before he doesn’t want to be at the top, he wants to entertain and make a nice living from playing tennis.
“I thought Draper would beat him, as I didn’t know if Bublik could stick at it mentally. Today, he looked like he could beat anyone.
“I used to coach at the Laver Cup, and we looked at Bublik a few times because his ranking was quite high. But I was of the opinion that I wasn’t going to pick him just on that alone because it just felt unfair on those players who take the game a bit more seriously. For me, he looks like he could be in the top 15 in the world, certainly on that form.
“As ex-players, we don’t want to hear players say they’re not going to go all in on everything. Novak, Nadal, Sinner, Alcaraz, they’re like machines, but Bublik is a bit more human out there. Too often, Bublik has tanked (given up).”
French Open run might spark fire inside Bublik
Some of the shots that the player produced yesterday defied his lowly world ranking, and perhaps it’s time for Bublik to take this profession more seriously.
It’s admirable that he wants to entertain, but having made a shedload of money from the sport already, it’s scary to think what he could win if he really knuckles down.
Bublik won’t be fancied to come through against Sinner, given that the world’s best player has rarely been tested at this year’s tournament and is playing brilliant tennis himself.
It should give him some heart to reach the last eight, however, and it will now be fascinating to see if he puts his mind to things for the remainder of this season and tries to get back towards his highest ever ranking of number 17.
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