Alexander Bublik is off to a strong start in 2025. The spoon-serving man took on two of the biggest tennis stars in a single interview.
The Kazakh tennis player, 33rd in the ATP, has clearly not appreciated the retirements of Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray in recent months. And he made it known to the Russian media Matchtv. According to him, these legends should have left earlier, without clinging to a hypothetical return to the high level.
“It’s even a shame”
“It is clear that I am not Rafa, my legacy will be much less important, so to speak,” recognizes the 27-year-old athlete. But what happened with Andy Murray (the Scotsman said goodbye during the Olympics, Editor’s note) and Rafa is a real circus. I can’t call it anything else. »
He believes that we must start “at the top”, not in these second-rate sporting conditions. “These people have achieved everything, even us tennis players gawked at them in the locker room, and then you see one of them bald and old. It is clear that he is no longer the same and never will be again. In my opinion, it’s even a shame, it’s not a circus. It would probably be more correct to say that. »
“Clinging to something that no longer exists”
As a reminder, Nadal played his last match last November during a Davis Cup tour in Spain against the Dutchman Botic Van de Zandschulp. He was then 38 years old and had an endless number of injuries, some of which sidelined him for many months in the last third of his career. As for Andy Murray and his hip prosthesis, he continued until he was 37 years old.
Bublik did not spare the Briton. He bluntly criticizes his reconversion as a coach. “Now he is in Novak Djokovic’s team. They are attempts to hold on to something that no longer exists, echoes of the past. I think that’s a problem. I hope this won’t be the case for me, but I can’t say for sure. Maybe at 36 I’ll go to the Bangkok Challenger, but I still hope to leave with peace of mind. »