VIDEO: Handball in the final of an ATP tournament? Bublik entertains and outrages with his stroke

Alexander Bublik is known for his antics on courts around the world. His unexpected “spodem” serves entertain fans around the world. But the Kazakh’s latest stunt didn’t find many fans in the crowd. Especially because he made a completely incomprehensible shot in the final match of the ATP tournament.

Twenty-five-year-old Bublik is having a breakthrough year in his career. In February, he managed to dominate an ATP tournament in France for the first time in his career, beating namesake Zverev in the final.

Now, he has managed to fight his way back to another grand final in France indoors, where he faces Italian all-rounder Lorenzo Sonego. He reached the final without losing a set, in addition to knocking out defending champion Hurkacz.

In the first set, they both held their serve reliably, with Bublik also failing to capitalise on a 40:0 lead in the fifth game. The set went to a tiebreak, which was dominated by the Italian, who won it 7::3.

The second set was clearly in the hands of Sonega. He was already leading 3::1 and in the next game he had a chance to increase his lead to 4::1. Bublik couldn’t handle the situation in his head and slowly gave up the match. After a very good serve, which the Italian barely returned, Bublik ran to the net to finish the exchange with a smash.

But instead of the expected hit, something nobody expected came. Bublik turned his racket in his hand and played the ball with his handle. But Sonego calmly responded to the weak shot and hit down the line to take game five.

But the crowd didn’t applaud the stunt from the Kazakh. Instead, Bublik received boos from the fans. In the end, Sonego won 7::6(3), 6::2 to win his third ATP title on three different surfaces. He moved back into the top 50.

On social media, one side is amused by his achievement, while the other side strongly criticises his behaviour in the final

Sources: ATP, Twitter