Alexander Bublik walked straight past Alexei Popyrin at the net after beating him at the 2025 Paris Masters. No handshake. No eye contact. Just a quick chat with the umpire and off he went.
The fans on Court 1 weren’t having it. They booed the Kazakhstani player, probably thinking he was just being a sore winner.
But Bublik had his reasons.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Bublik | 28 | 2,150 | 19 - 12 |
This has been a pretty amazing year for the world No. 16. He’s won four titles, including the big one at Halle. Made it to the French Open quarterfinals for the first time. Hit a career-high ranking.
The Hangzhou Open victory last month was supposed to keep his ATP Finals hopes alive. But losses in Beijing and Shanghai killed those dreams pretty quickly.
So Paris was always going to be about playing freely. No pressure, just tennis.
And he played really well against Popyrin, winning 6-4, 6-3 in what looked like a routine match. Bublik broke serve three times out of five chances, which is excellent against someone who serves as hard as the Australian.
That’s when things got interesting.
Instead of the usual post-match pleasantries, Bublik made his statement. He told Russian outlet Championat exactly why he snubbed his opponent.
"Well, precisely because if someone hangs two ropes and doesn’t apologize, but celebrates as if they’ve won something… I just don’t see anything wrong with that. I think any reasonable person would have done the same in my place."
He’s talking about net cords – those lucky shots that clip the tape and drop over for winners. In tennis, you’re supposed to raise your hand and acknowledge you got lucky, even if you didn’t mean to.
Popyrin apparently celebrated two net cord winners without apologizing. That really ticked off Bublik.
"I’m not the kind of person to cling to that, but they apologize for it. There’s a code, there’s some kind of etiquette. If someone doesn’t adhere to it, why should I adhere to another?"
It’s pretty straightforward tennis etiquette, really. Whether you mean the apology or not, most players at least acknowledge when they get some good fortune.
Bublik decided if Popyrin wasn’t going to follow one part of tennis’s unwritten rules, he wouldn’t follow another part either.
There have been other fiery moments in 2025
This year’s been full of these kinds of incidents. Players seem more willing to call each other out when they think someone’s crossed a line.
Maria Sakkari had a massive blowup with Yulia Putintseva at the Bad Homburg Open. The Greek player actually told her opponent that other players talk about not respecting her as a person. That’s about as brutal as it gets in tennis.
Then there was the Miami Open drama between Mirra Andreeva and Amanda Anisimova. Andreeva accused the American of faking an injury during her service game just to disrupt her rhythm. Anisimova fired back by posting a video of her actual blister afterward.
Even Carlos Alcaraz lost his cool with an umpire this year. During the Japan Open final, he kept telling official Fergus Murphy that he’d "never played tennis in his life" after getting a time violation.
Maybe it’s the pressure of the tour, or maybe players are just getting tired of letting things slide. Either way, Bublik’s handshake snub fits right into what’s been a pretty heated year on the tennis circuit.
The Kazakhstani moves on to the second round in Paris, where he’ll probably get a much friendlier reception at the net – assuming his next opponent follows proper etiquette.
