Andrey Rublev welcomed the ATP’s decision not to withdraw his ranking points or his “prize money” despite his disqualification in the semi-finals of the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai, the Russian hoping that this episode would push the body to review its regulations.
“I want to thank the ATP Appeal Committee for receiving my appeal and changing the initial decision,” the 26-year-old wrote on his X account (formerly Twitter) on Monday evening. “I hope the ATP will take a close look at this rule and change it so that a referee can no longer decide the outcome of a match without having clear evidence.”
On Monday, the ATP announced that its appeal committee had found that “beyond the loss of the match, the usual sanctions associated with disqualification – namely the loss of ranking points and money for the entire tournament- would be disproportionate in this case.
Rublev, known for his angry outbursts usually directed at him and his equipment, was disqualified in the semifinals in Dubai on Friday after shouting his anger inches from a linesman’s face while in a late round. knife game against the Kazakh Alexander Bublik.
The current 5th player in the world was immediately disqualified based on the testimony of another linesman who claimed to have heard Rublev insult his colleague in Russian, which the player denies.