Aleksandr Búblik, Kazakhstani (Russian born) tennis player, currently 33rd in the ATP rankings, has sparked controversy after he didn't mince his words about Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray, two tennis legends who retired last year, describing their retirement as a "circus" in Russian TV, spotted by Tennis Update.
"One wants to leave at their peak. Clearly, I'm not Rafa, my legacy will be much smaller, if you can call it that", he said about Nadal, who retired aged 38 after a season filled with sporting success, inspiring millions of people, but also suffering countless injuries that put a bitter end to his career last November.
"These people achieved everything, even we tennis players looked at them with open mouths in the locker room, and then you see one of them bald and old", he said about Rafa's final years, ignoring that, as recently as 2022, Nadal won his 14th Roland Garros title. "It's clear that he's not the same and will never be the same. In my opinion, it's even a disgrace rather than a circus. I guess that's the right way to put it".
He also lashed out against Andy Murray, who retired after Paris 2024 and now is Novak Djokovic's manager. Bublik describes that career move as "attempts to grasp what is no longer there, some echoes of the past. I think it's a problem".
Alexander Bublik, now 27, said he changed his mind about retiring early, and says he could still be playing for a decade. But "I hope it won't be like that for me, but I can't say for sure. Maybe at 36, I'll be playing in the Challenger in Bangkok, but I still hope that I'll leave with a calm soul". Do you agree with Bublik's words?