Exploring why nobody wants to face Alexander Bublik on Wimbledon's grass courts

The Hindu

14 hours ago

After losing to Alexander Bublik in the final of Halle, former World No. 1 and 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev paid his opponent the ultimate veiled compliment. Congratulating Bublik, Medvedev said, 'Keep playing like that, I hope you're in Carlos [Alcaraz's side of the] draw at Wimbledon. Please, Carlos or Jannik [Sinner's] side of the draw at Wimbledon!'
It's a sentiment many others on the ATP Tour share. Bublik is a player other players don't fancy facing, but one they hope will take out a big name or two, thus clearing their own path. The 6'5' Bublik owns a monster serve, a punishing forehand and a dizzying array of drops, slices and trickshots. At his best, he can take the racquet out of his opponent's hand. But even at his worst — he is prone to ups and downs — he is a disarming, distracting handful.
Expect the unexpected
Indeed, Aleksandar Kovacevic, who defeated Bublik in Montpellier earlier this year, found himself confronted by a string of successful underarm serves at one stage and a bemused ball boy, who Bublik handed his racquet to, at another. 'I was not expecting to play against the ball kid, but you always know there's going to be something funny with him [Bublik],' Kovacevic said. 'It's not the first time he's having fun out here. It's not a bad thing. But for me, obviously, and for any opponent that he has, it's important to stay locked in and focus.'
It's not Bublik's worst his rivals are fearing ahead of Wimbledon, however. The 28-year-old heads to London on the back of his best Major run and in possession of his second Halle title.
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At Roland-Garros, Bublik made history, becoming the first male player representing Kazakhstan to enter the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles event. It was a remarkable performance for the quality of players he defeated but also for the fact that it came on clay, a surface that doesn't play to his strengths. 'I hate clay, I hope not to step on it for the next ten years,' he said before the tournament. 'I hope the clay-court season ends soon so I can play on grass.'
But Bublik found his footing on Paris' red dirt to beat Alex de Minaur from two sets down and Jack Draper from a set down. Both were inspired victories. De Minaur, a particularly difficult man to put away because of his exceptional footspeed, was on a streak of four consecutive appearances in Major quarterfinals. Draper was the fifth seed on the back of a strong run during which he won the Indian Wells title and reached the Madrid Open final.
Back on his favourite grass, Bublik showed just what a threat he can be on a fast, slippery surface. He became the first man not named Alcaraz to beat World No. 1 Sinner in 49 matches.
He extracted a measure of revenge for the quarterfinal loss at Roland-Garros with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory. It was Bublik's second win over Sinner in six matches, both coming on Halle's grass.
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Bublik saved three break points in the first game of the second set before gaining the crucial break to lead 4-2 and smashed three aces when holding serve to force the decider where a break to go 4-3 up proved decisive. 'It's a special one — I had never beaten the top one [No. 1] in the world, that's an accomplishment,' said Bublik, who struck 36 winners, including 15 aces.
'It's a very fast surface, so I had for certain a better chance than at Roland-Garros. I tried to be clutch. I just kept serving and putting him in uncomfortable positions. Tried to return as much as I could. Serve aces so the ball doesn't come back. It worked well.'
New maturity
Bublik continued to serve big and rip winners on his way to the final, where he had a mental obstacle to overcome. He had lost his six previous meetings against Medvedev, winning only one set in the process, but produced a superb exhibition of grass-court tennis to end that streak. So often the showman, Bublik showed his new maturity with a calm 6-3, 7-6(4) victory.
'I was cursed against you, Daniil,' he said in the post-match ceremony. 'From the mental point of view, that's the toughest match I ever played in my life. I have never beaten Daniil. He's a super tough player to play, especially with my gamestyle, and today everything clicked, mentally and physically. That's one of the wins of my career.'
The Halle triumph certainly made many in the tennis world sit up and take notice.
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Andy Roddick, a three-time runner-up at Wimbledon, likened Bublik's unconventional style to former World No. 8 Radek Stepanek's. Both players, he said, kept opponents off-balance on grass because they always carried the threat of rushing the net, 'except Bublik kind of hits the ball bigger'. Roddick also said Bublik is 'among the 10-15 best grass-court players if he is in form and engaged'.
Three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker liked what he saw from Bublik in the Halle final, calling it 'great grass-court play' which made his heart 'beat a little faster'.
Bublik will enter Wimbledon feeling completely different mentally to what he did a year ago. Ranked as high as No. 17 last June, he experienced a slump that left him outside the top-80.
'I had such tough months from last Wimbledon to probably this summer,' said Bublik, who climbed 15 places to World No. 30 after his Halle triumph. 'I was close to calling it quits after Wimbledon because I was not enjoying it. I dropped in the rankings and I didn't know why. I didn't want to play, I had no joy. Now this is happening. Quarters at the French. Winner here. It's beyond my wildest dreams of what I could achieve. It has been a big renaissance of my career.'
Harnessing unorthodoxy
In addition to rediscovering the joy of playing, Bublik has also found a way over the last month to extract the most from his unorthodox game. The key has been using his serve to platform his variety, touch and guile. As he said, 'On grass, if you lose your serve, it is maybe tough and I am a guy who doesn't lose a lot of serves.
'If Bublik can serve to potential and hold his nerve, he will be a threat on Wimbledon's lawns. He will know that he can improve on his round-of-16 appearance in 2023, but he isn't getting ahead of himself. 'Tennis is a brutal sport,' he said. 'When I was ranked 17th in the world, I started treating it like a job, a sport that was too demanding. But this isn't track and field, it's not a race against time. There's a ball, and you can do anything with it. That — you must never forget.'