Alexei Popyrin has been knocked out of the Paris Masters, but the result has been overshadowed by tense scenes after the match.
The Aussie was snubbed by opponent Alexander Bublik after the Kazakh completed his 6-4 6-3 first round victory with an unreturnable serve.
Watching Popyrin’s return sail long, the No. 13 seed swiftly walked straight to the chair umpire to shake hands before walking to his chair.
Popyrin was left stranded deep in the court as he walked towards the chair umpire, never getting close to his opponent.
You can watch the frosty moment in the video above
“Frosty handshake between the two of them,” an English commentator said on Tennis TV.
Some of the crowd booed the lack of a handshake as Bublik walked back onto the court and raised his arms to thank the crowd.
It was a brutal moment for Popyrin, who suffered his second defeat at the hands of Bublik this year.
Their earlier meeting at the Madrid Open in April set the scene for a fiery match on Tuesday morning after they exchanged unfriendly words at the net following Bublik’s controversial win.
According to express.co.uk, Bublik may have consciously snubbed Popyrin because of a moment early in the second set where the Aussie did not raise his hands to apologise for a ball clipping the net tape.
However, it appears more likely that there has been no love lost between the pair since their April confrontation, which you can watch in the player below.
At the time, Bublik briefly halted play and called for a tournament supervisor to address a call made by the chair umpire.
Early in the second set of the match, won by Bublik, the world No. 16 sat on his chair and refused to continue play after his first appeals to the chair umpire were ignored.
Popyrin was clearly irked by his opponent’s antics.
The 26-year-old appeared to give Bublik some advice as they met at the net for a brief, hostile handshake.
Tuesday’s development shows the frustration is clearly mutual.
Popyrin won the first three times the pair faced each other, but their head to-head record now stands at 3-2.
Bublik said after the match: “I definitely didn’t play my best today but tennis is not about bringing your best every day, it’s about winning when you’re not feeling well, and especially in a new venue”.
Bublik advanced to the second round, where he will face the winner of the match between French wildcard Corentin Moutet and Reilly Opelka.
Grigor Dimitrov was one of the other big winners on Tuesday morning.
Dimitrov returned to action by beating Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 as the event made its debut in its new La Defense Arena home.
After being held for nearly 40 years at Paris’ Bercy Arena, the tournament has moved across the city to set up shop in the cavernous multi-purpose arena.
Opened in 2017, the venue is best known as the home ground of French Top 14 rugby club Racing 92 and for having played host to the swimming events at the Olympics last year. It also welcomes concerts and political rallies.
Now in its current guise as a tennis venue, La Defense Arena boasts the second largest showpiece court on the current global tennis circuit — second only in size terms to the US Open’s Arthur Ashe Stadium.
It was the scene of a triumphant comeback for former world number three Dimitrov as he played his first match since having to retire injured from his fourth round match at Wimbledon in July when leading two sets to love against eventual champion Jannik Sinner.
“Winning or losing this match today would have been a win for me, I’m just so happy to be able to compete again,” 34-year-old Dimitrov said on-court.
“I had to be extremely patient with myself… clearly I’m playing against such an amazing player but I’m just grateful (to win).”
He will meet either former Russian world number one Daniil Medvedev or Spain’s Jaume Munar in the second round.
Russian 12th seed Andrey Rublev earlier raced to a 6-1, 6-4 win over Britain’s Jacob Fearnley.
Earlier, the event opened with a pair of hardfought wins for French wildcards. Arthur Cazaux christened the new 17,500-capacity centre court with a 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) triumph over Italy’s Luciano Darderi.
Shanghai Masters runner-up Arthur Rinderknech then further delighted the local fans with a win by the exact same score against Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan.
World number one Carlos Alcaraz will launch his campaign in the second round on Tuesday night when he takes on Britain’s Cameron Norrie.
— with AFP
