Andrey Rublev with his trainer tending to his bloodied knee. (Credit: Twitter)
Andrey Rublev grew so frustrated during his loss to Carlos Alcaraz at the ATP Finals on Wednesday that he repeatedly hit himself with his racket so hard that he bloodied his left knee.
Andrey Rublev grew so frustrated during a 7-5, 6-2 loss to Carlos Alcaraz at the ATP Finals on Wednesday that he repeatedly hit himself with his racket — so hard that he bloodied his left knee.
Rublev had already slammed his racket to the ground during the opening game of the second set. Then when the Russian missed a shot to hand Alcaraz a break, he started beating himself as he walked to his chair and then used a towel to wipe the blood off.
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“It’s OK,” Rublev said of his knee. “I get disappointed and couldn’t manage.”
The second-ranked Alcaraz, a 20-year-old Spaniard who is already a two-time Grand Slam champion, ended an uncharacteristic three-match losing streak following defeats to Grigor Dimitrov in Shanghai, Roman Safiullin in Paris and Alexander Zverev in his debut match in Turin.
“I played such a great level,” Alcaraz said.
While Rublev was virtually eliminated after losing both of his opening matches, Alcaraz boosted his chances of advancing from the round robin stage at the season-ending event for the year’s top eight players.
Alcaraz will next face Daniil Medvedev.
“The key against Medvedev is to play a perfect match — tactically,” Alcaraz said.
Later in the red group, Medvedev will meet Zverev for the 18th time.
Jannik Sinner leads the green group with two wins following his victory over Novak Djokovic on Tuesday.