Alexander Bublik left Kartal bloodied and still won. After losing a tight first-set tie-break to Brandon Nakashima, he smashed his racket, cut his hand on a drinks cooler lid and kept playing.
The World No 22 recovered to win 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 at the Shanghai Masters. He also recorded his 30th win this season.
Shanghai Masters
Bublik lost the first-set tie-break 9-7 after carving out two set points. He smashed his racket on the ground five times before it was crushed, then kicked the destroyed frame before hitting his hand through the lid of a drinks cooler.
John Blom then announced a code violation warning for unsportsmanlike conduct. Bublik covered his bleeding hand with a towel, asked for a physio and took a three-minute medical time-out before returning to the match.
Brandon Nakashima
Brandon Nakashima had the better start, but the match turned once Bublik settled after the medical break. The scoreline moved from a first-set loss to a three-set win, with the final two sets going 6-3 and 7-6.
The result fits a longer pattern around Bublik. In 2020, he said, “I hate tennis with all my heart,” and he later drew a code violation during a 2023 US Open match against Dominic Thiem. In 2025, he called the retirements of Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray a “circus” and said, “These two people achieved everything there is to achieve. Even we as fellow tennis players used to look at them with our mouths open in the locker room – and then you see them bald and old.”
For Kartal readers, the immediate takeaway is simple: Bublik’s next match and any further treatment for the hand were not part of this result, so the only certainty is that he left the court with a win, a warning and a bleeding hand.
