Wimbledon defeat

Violent outburst! Rublev bruises his knee

Andrei Rublev is known for his emotional outbursts.(Bild: AFP/APA/HENRY NICHOLLS)

Tennis pro Andrei Rublev bloodied his own knee with a tennis racket after making a crucial mistake in his first-round match at Wimbledon against Argentina's Francisco Comesana. Not the first freak-out by the Russian, who has a simple explanation for it and is causing further discussion. 

"I wouldn't do that if I was allowed to hit the ground with my racket," Rublev explained the scene after the match. After a botched shot in the third set, the Russian conceded the break for 1:4 and could not hide his anger. He hit his own knee seven times with his racket. 

In the end, the number six seed was eliminated in the first round against the Argentinian debutant. He had previously ended the match with a bleeding wound on his knee. Images that made people shake their heads and ultimately provided plenty of material for discussion. Rublev himself tried to calm things down: "I had to let my emotions run free. But everything is fine." 

There is also encouragement
The fans at Wimbledon were stunned by the scene. Experts, on the other hand, subsequently demanded consequences for such an outburst. "This must be a code violation," emphasizes US tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg. He calls for Rublev to be warned and even disqualified if he does it again. Other experts also agreed with this assessment.

However, there was also support for the Russian in the social networks. One user said that we should accept that there are people with emotions and not robots on the pitch. Others agreed with the statement and thought that Rublev's action was not disrespectful towards his opponent. Either way, Rublev and his emotions will probably continue to occupy the tennis world in the future.