Alexander Bublik smashes racquets in all-time meltdown: 'Out of hand'

Alexander Bublik has smashed three racquets in an all-time meltdown during his surprise Open Sud de France defeat. The exciting Kazakhstan star played a disastrous final set tiebreak with the match even against Gregoire Barrere at 6-4, 6-7, 6-6.

Rublik let slip a break of serve in the final set having double faulted three times. He then went on to serve three double faults in a terrible tiebreak performance. He faced match point at 6-0 down after letting slip the final set.

'VERY SAD': Tennis world rocked by 'terrible' Ons Jabeur news

'IT WOULD BE A DISGRACE': Novak Djokovic caught up in fresh tennis furore

And on the change of ends, Bublik let rip as he completely obliterated his racquet. The often bubbly character on court was furious with himself as he mangled the racquet.

"The good news is, he has plenty of other racquets," one commentator said. However, the outburst wasn't over.

Bublik headed to his bag and pulled out a second racquet and smashed it. He then pulled out a third and it ended up the same as the other two.

"Well, that is going to get the treatment as well," another commentator added. "Well, this is getting out of hand now."

The crowd initially reacted with astonishment to the first racquet smash. But, the viewers quickly turned on him as he continued the meltdown. Bublik finished the match with 14 double faults, which was uncharacteristic of the big server.

Many on social media couldn't believe Bublik's anger, which all but ended the World No.50's tournament.

Novak Djokovic unlikely for Indian Wells

Meanwhile on the ATP Tour, Novak Djokovic looks set to miss the Indian Wells tournament in the US for a second straight year. The Australian Open champion was once again named in the Indian Wells entry list, alongside Rafa Nadal, for the tournament starting in March.

Djokovic didn't play Indian Wells or the Miami Open last year due to the strict US restrictions around unvaccinated visitors entering the country. The US is set to relax the rules around unvaccinated visitors entering the country on May 11.

However, this will come too late for the 22-time grand slam champion, which sparked anger from tournament director Tommy Haas. "It would be nice to see if we could maybe lift those [restrictions] a little earlier and have him [Djokovic] come to play Indian Wells and Miami," Haas said. "I think he wants to play, so we should give him the chance.

"Hopefully we can have him there. I mean, it would be a disgrace in my eyes if he wasn’t coming to these events, or not allowed to come.”

with AAP

Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.