Google News ATP Halle: Alexander Bublik unties the referee's shoe!
by LORENZO CIOTTI
Alexander Bublik was the protagonist of a nice moment with the chair umpire at the ATP 500 in Halle, which did not go unnoticed and recalled a gesture also made by Fabio Fognini in the past. Bublik, during the match valid for the round of 16 against the German Jan-Lennard Struff, wanted to joke with the chair umpire by untying his shoe lace during a change of court.
It is not the first time that the Kazakh has become the protagonist of these rather particular and amusing actions. Last year, at the ATP 250 in Florence, the tennis player had repeated his challenge with J.J. Wolf and on that occasion the victim was the referee Richard Haigh, who had also declared on the court: "This is Bublik, when he does these things he is able to play at the level of the top 10.
And so it also happened in Halle.
Alexander delivered a solid performance against the home player and was able to win in three sets after a tough fight.Your shoes are un-tied 🤣#TWO23 pic.twitter.com/mORsVuCVP2 — Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 22, 2023
A new very difficult match awaited the Kazakh athlete in Germany, who took to the field at the Owl Arena against the Italian Jannik Sinner.
The first quarterfinal at the ATP 500 in Halle ends with an incredible twist: Jannik Sinner decides to retire during the second set and thus allows Alexander Bublik to get through to the semifinal. The reason is a muscle problem, which in the next few hours we will try to find out the seriousness, which didn't leave much escape to the South Tyrolean: as a precaution, he preferred not to take risks and raise the white flag, fearing a more serious injury if he continued to play.
The moment that caused the problem could be during the third game, during a descent to the net after a short ball from the Kazakh. Back on the field, the sensations did not improve and Sinner gave up his serve in the second game.
Immediately afterwards he said goodbye to Bublik and made it clear that he wanted to leave the meeting. A bad epilogue for the new number 8 of the ATP ranking in Halle, given the two previous challenges that he had been able to win despite being forced to play a decisive third set.
The fans and enthusiasts now hope that the physical problem is nothing serious: in just over a week there will be the official start at Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the season, in which the Italian will want to be among the protagonists.