Alexander Bublik, the world No. 50 men's tennis player, smashed three rackets during a moment of frustration in the first round of the Open Sud de France on Wednesday. He came in as the defending champion but saw an early exit this year after losing to French opponent Gregoire Barrere by a score of 4-6, 7-6 (14-12) 6-7 (3-7).
Barrere took the first set 6-4, but Bublik tried to bounce back in the second one. That set went to a tiebreaker and didn't stop until Bublik came out on top 14-12. The third set also needed a tiebreaker, and Bublik was not able to hide his emotions when his opponent took a 6-0 lead. He smashed a racket five times while the crowd booed loudly.
Broadcaster Sue Thearle said the good thing was that he had other rackets, but Bublik had other plans for them. He walked over to his bench to take out another racket and smash it four times.
Two is the same number of rackets that world No. 20 Nick Kyrgios -- who is known in tennis for his bad boy attitude -- destroyed during last year's US Open. However, Bublik was not done yet because he picked up a third one and also hit it four times.
"Well, this is getting out of hand now,"broadcaster Mikey Perera said.
The 25-year-old grabbed a fourth racket but that one survived as he was finally ready to go back on the court and finish the match. Here is a video of Bublik's meltdown:
The TRIPLE 😳😳😳#OSDF23 @OpenSuddeFrance pic.twitter.com/vTsNeFVJcA
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 8, 2023
Bublik went on to finish the day with 19 aces and 14 double faults. This hasn't been a good year for him so far, as his loss on Wednesday dropped him to 0-7 in 2023.
