There is a code of conduct in tennis, and he did not respect it," Bublik on his refusal to shake Popyrin's hand

The Kazakh refused to shake Alexei Popyrin's hand after their match at the Rolex Paris Masters. Accused of an unsportsmanlike gesture, Bublik wanted to explain his decision, denouncing a "disrespectful" attitude from his opponent after a somewhat lucky point.

The sequence went viral on social media this Monday. After winning his first-round match against Alexei Popyrin at the Rolex Paris Masters, Alexander Bublik made an impression by choosing not to shake his opponent's hand.

The reason was quickly identified by some media outlets: Popyrin had won a point after hitting the net cord twice and had not apologized afterwards. Speaking to the Russian media outlet Championat, Bublik commented on this incident:

"If someone, after hitting the net cord twice, doesn't apologize and celebrates as if they had won something... I don't see anything extraordinary in that. I think any reasonable person would have done the same in my place, or at least, if I had acted the same way one day.

He can celebrate and apologize afterwards. I'm not the type to care about that, but you apologize for these kinds of things. There is a code of conduct, a certain etiquette (in tennis). If someone doesn't respect the code, then why should I respect another rule?