Russian tennis star loses his cool at French Open and almost takes out court-sweeper
dailystar.co.uktennis ace Andrey Rublev nearly conked a French Open groundsman on the head with a tennis ball after losing his temper during his first round win over Kwon Soon-woo on Tuesday.The 24-year-old threw a bit of strop after losing the first set and smashed a ball into his bench right beneath the umpire's chair, which ricocheted back and fizzed past the head of a man sweeping the court - knocking his hat off.Boos rang out from the crowd as a fuming Rublev took his seat before smashing his water bottle on the ground, prompting a warning for his behaviour from the umpire.The Russian went on to win three sets in a row to secure passage to the second round, and apologised for his antics after the match."I lost my mind for a moment, and of course I regret what I did.
It’s unacceptable to hit the way the ball I hit it," said Rublev. "Better if I just hit the racket on the seat, because the ball can affect someone.
This is unprofessional from my side, and hopefully I will never do it again."Former British No 1 Tim Henman slammed Rublev's behaviour, describing it as "not a good look for the sport"."You don’t want to be hitting balls in anger and hitting ball kids, that can be an expensive mistake, as I found out in 1995," Henman told Eurosport, referring to his unfortunate disqualification at Wimbledon 27 years ago.Is it right that Russian players are banned from playing at Wimbledon this year?
Let us know what you think in the comments section."We have seen probably a little bit too much frustration that is almost endangering other people on court.
Read more on dailystar.co.uk
