Russian Tennis Star Requires Medical Assistance After On-Court Meltdown

There's sore losing and then there's sore losing. And it goes without saying that the latter was the case of Russian tennis star Andrey Rublev, who found himself falling behind Carlos Alcaraz of Spain during the fourth day of the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, Italy on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old from Moscow lost his temper during the second set of the match after missing a shot that resulted in a service break, smashing his racket into his knee six times. Preceding the meltdown, Rublev had already been incensed over a point that had to be replayed in the first set over a call that was overturned on review.

According to USA Today, Rublev attempted to clean the blood off his knee with a towel. However, blood continued to trickle down his leg until he called a trainer over for medical treatment while the match was momentarily paused.

"No really, calm down Andrey Rublev," quipped a French spectator who posted footage of the temper tantrum on X, formerly Twitter. "He is going to decapitate himself on the court one day."

Eventually, the match was able to be resumed, but Rublev's luck unfortunately did not improve. He ultimately lost the match to Alcaraz 7–5, 6–2. "It’s OK," he told reporters after the match, regarding his self-inflicted knee injury. "I get disappointed and couldn’t manage."

But unfortunately for Rublev, the ATP Finals is the ATP Tour's season-ending event, so it will be awhile before he faces off on the court again. Meanwhile, Alcaraz will go on to play Daniil Medvedev in the final event for the season's top eight players.