17-year-old Andrey Rublev accused of threatening opponent at Challenger event
Russian tennis sensation Andrey Rublev, 17, has been accused of intimidating and threatening his opponent during a second-round match of the Moscow Challenger on Thursday.
The accuser, 164th-ranked Argentinian Renzo Olivo, posted an open letter on Twitter expressing his disappointment that Rublev wasn't disciplined for his actions.
Hola a todos me gustaría dejarles esta carta para los interesados del tenis y también al ATP @ATPWorldTour Gracias! pic.twitter.com/b2JSb9AvlO
— renzo olivo (@renzolii) June 11, 2015
The following translated excerpts from BAtennisworld.com were agreed to by Olivo:
As some of you know, today I lost in the second round of the Moscow Challenger and I would like to make a public complaint and thus also have possibility of it getting to the ATP. I am disappointed with what happened during today’s match, in which the rival played against the rules a couple of times, and threatened me.
I am disappointed because the umpires don’t make the decisions that they should. We also make mistakes, and we pay for them, literally. However, the umpires don’t…
The umpire was very conscious of what happened. However, he decided not to take any action.
It is frustrating to deal with constant threats because what happened today was public, but we receive such threats all the time from betters and others in social media.
It's not the first time the Russian has been accused of poor on-court behavior. Fernando Verdasco complained that "(Rublev) shows little respect for his opponent" after being upset by the teenager at this year's Barcelona Open.
Rublev was the No. 1 junior player in the world after winning the 2014 French Open boys' singles. He's currently ranked sixth among juniors and a career-high 229th in the ATP.