Bublik on his junior years: "The ATP circuit seemed completely out of my reach".

Alexander Bublik put an end to Richard Gasquet's career in Marseille.

In the first round, the Kazakh player, as unpredictable as ever, took several games to get into his stride, but eventually got the better of his opponent (6-4, 6-4).

Now down to world No. 48, the 27-year-old was ranked 17th in the world, thanks in no small part to his four career titles, including the most prestigious at the ATP 500 tournament in Halle in 2023.

In an interview with Russian media outlet Championnat, Bublik recalled a discussion he had with Daniil Medvedev several years ago.

"I was the best in my academy, but when I started taking part in tournaments, I came up against quite a few failures.

For me, the ATP circuit seemed completely out of reach. I remember one Futures tournament I played in with Daniil Medvedev.

We were probably ranked 900th. He told me: 'It's impossible to break into the top 300. I pretty much agreed with him.

In the end, he became world number 1 and I broke into the top 20. In fact, I only realized how good I was when I was a junior.

I was ranked in the top 20 juniors all by myself, without a coach, and I was 180th in the rankings. Once I had a coach and a physio, I broke into the top 100," he assures us.