If you’ve never heard of Alexander Bublik then you’re missing out, and you should turn his match on right now.
If you have heard of him, then you know he is one of the most captivating players on tour.
The thing is, Bublik is not your typical tennis player. He’s a chip-pinching, tweener-deploying, underarm-serving Kazakh who has just cracked the top 10 for the first time, and is one of the sport’s great showmen.
The secret to his success? Doing tennis his way.
And there’s no one else who does tennis quite like him.
“I always talk to my coach about that,” Bublik said.
“What I would do, what I would teach as a coach. Would I teach someone to be like Alex Bublik was? Never…If we take 1000 players, I think one can achieve what I achieved with that mindset that I have … for me, I would never teach my way.
“It’s a fun way, it’s nice when you can have a pint of beer before going on court and win titles. It’s fun. It’s fun not to practice five hours a day, but can you play tennis like this?”
Bublik’s first round match against American Jenson Brooksby is in the first set on MCA.