World No 5 Andrey Rublev has had more than $150,000 (approx. £118,000) of prize money and 200 ranking points reinstated after the men’s professional tour (ATP) admitted fault in his disqualification last week.
Rublev was defaulted from the semi-final in Dubai last week after a line judge claimed he had called one of the officials “a f**king moron” in his native Russian.
The 26-year-old player insisted he was “was not even talking in Russian”, but was disqualified by the tournament supervisor for abusing an official – a result that ordinarily deprives players of any prize money or ranking points earned at the tournament.
However, Rublev’s appeal to the ATP has been successful with the tour admitting the full sanction would have been “disproportionate”, although a fine of nearly £30,000 has been allowed to stand.
“The ATP has reviewed an appeal from Andrey Rublev, following the player’s default from the semi-finals of the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai,” an ATP spokesperson told i.
“The appeal process took into consideration testimonies from the player, officials, as well as a review of all available video and audio materials.
“The appeals committee concluded that, beyond forfeiting the match, customary penalties associated with a default – namely loss of rankings points and prize money for the entire tournament – would be disproportionate in this case.
“As such, Rublev retains semi-final points and prize money for the tournament.”
The decision will be welcomed by most members of the tennis commentariat, including former world No 1 Andy Roddick.
“He has to now give up his prize money for the week, his ATP ranking points for the week, drops him out of the top five in the world,” Roddick said on his podcast Served.
“I don’t know what his meltdown on Friday has to do with his first, second, and third-round victories.
“He will have some of the blame because he went too far, but taking the money for the week, taking away the points because of a judgment call of some guy in a chair, that doesn’t make sense to me.”
As it is, “some guy in a chair” will be out of work next year when the ATP Tour will introduce automatic line-calling system on every court for main tour events, including Dubai’s ATP 500-level tournament.
But video review for incidents such as this one, which Rublev pleaded for with the tournament supervisor, remain unlikely, even though trials of a VAR-style system have been undertaken to allow umpires to look at incidents like double-bounces or hindrances.
Unsportsmanlike conduct though, the catch-all under which this incident falls, remains a judgment call for the umpire and ultimately the supervisor.
