Andrey Rublev was defaulted in the deciding set of his semi-final at the Dubai Tennis Championships after he was accused of swearing at a line judge.
The Russian was trailing 6-5 in the third against Alexander Bublik, when he screamed in the face of a line judge.
ATP supervisor Roland Herfel came down to the court and was told by a Russian official that Rublev had sworn in his native language.
Rublev protested, insisting he was speaking in English, while Bublik also backed his opponent.
"I didn't say 'f******'. I swear to God. This is huge. I swear to God," said Rublev.
Bublik commented: "I highly doubt Andrey said something crazy, he's not this kind of guy. But I guess that's the rules. That's what they did, they just follow the procedure.”
Andrey Rublev is defaulted from the Dubai semi-final, sending Alexander Bublik through to the #DDFTennis final pic.twitter.com/tclfcXxDYY
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 1, 2024
The offence would usually merit a warning in the first instance, but the 26-year-old was defaulted by umpire Miriam Bley amid jeers from the crowd in Dubai.
As a result of the disqualification, Rublev will not receive any prize money from the week and will lose all his points, therefore dropping out of the top five in the world rankings.
Fellow Russian Daria Kasatkina, the world number 12, called the disqualification "a joke".
She wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: "So you can just default a player, take his points and money away, without even checking a video replay???
"What a joke, another confirmation we need a VAR in tennis and electronic line calling on all tournaments."
It was a controversial end to a tight match, with Kazakhstan's Bublik progressing to the final 6-7 (4) 7-6 (5) 6-5.
He will face Ugo Humbert after the Frenchman beat another Russian, defending champion Daniil Medvedev, 7-5 6-3.
