Andrey Rublev said he “tanked” a set at the French Open, after melting down in defeat to Matteo Arnaldi.
Rublev, 26, lost in straight sets 6-7, 2-6, 4-6 to the unseeded Italian Arnaldi to crash out at the third round stage on Friday.
“I collapse with myself, I get emotional, I lost my serve, and then I lose it completely and basically I almost — no, I tank the second set, and then it was too late, because then he start to play unbelievable,” Rublev said.
The world no 6 then paused for a lengthy period of time before using the word “tank” to describe the second set.
“Tanking” a set, or not giving one’s best effort, is a tennis faux pas; having a class of its own in warnings for bad behavior on court, under “best effort.” The umpire did not give Rublev this warning, but did give him unsportsmanlike conduct warnings on two occasions.
As he was all match, he was perhaps a little hard on himself. After being broken by Arnaldi in a game with four deuces, the Italian won the next game to love, but not for a lack of effort from Rublev.
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It was the following game, when from 40-0 up, that he hit one ridiculous double fault and several more wild errors, that broke him, kicking the chairs at the side of the court before sitting down losing 2-5.
After his defeat, Rublev told reporters that he was ashamed of his behavior on court, describing his racket-smashing, kicking of furniture, and repeatedly hitting himself in the leg with his racket and in the face with his hand as the worst he had behaved during a Grand Slam.
He frequently looked close to tears on court, not so much angry as desolate and devastated.
Rublev’s frustrations got the better of him during his third round defeat (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Rublev was earlier this year defaulted from a match in Dubai after yelling in the face of a line judge, but the default came because another line judge suggested he had sworn in Russian. Rublev maintained he had not, and the ATP Tour later restored his ranking points and prize money from the event, judging the decision to have been incorrect.
Arnaldi, on the back of his first win over a top-10 player at a Grand Slam, will play Stefanos Tsitsipas in the round-of-16.
A spectacular implosion, even by Rublev’s standards
Analysis from The Athletic’s tennis correspondent Charlie Eccleshare
Rublev is known for his blowouts, but even so this was a spectacular implosion. And it was striking to hear him say afterwards that he felt it was the worst he’d ever behaved at a Grand Slam. It’s also very rare to hear a player admitting to “tanking” — as Rublev said he did towards the end of the second set.
The mood in the press conference room following the match was like a wake, with Rublev clearly still processing what had happened. Tennis is a sport that can often feel specifically designed to infuriate, and Rublev is regularly the starkest example of this. All the moreso when he is regarded as one of the kindest players on tour off-court, who always blames, fumes at, and castigates himself, not others.
Though he’s far from the only one. Less than 24 hours earlier the French player Arthur Rinderknech had to retire from his second-round match against Tomas Martin Etcheverry after injuring his foot kicking an advertising hoarding in frustration. And he was two sets to one up at the time.
The hope now is that Rublev — and Rinderknech — can regroup and go again. Where tennis is more generous is that there’s always another tournament not far away.
(Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images)
