Tennis - ATP 500 - Dubai Tennis Championships - Dubai Duty Free Tennis Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates - March 1, 2024 Russia's Andrey Rublev in action during his semi final match against Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
(Reuters) - Andrey Rublev will retain the ranking points and prize money earned at the Dubai Tennis Championships, despite getting defaulted from the tournament for unsportsmanlike conduct, after an appeal to the ATP.
Rublev was defaulted by the chair umpire after a Russian-speaking official appeared to accuse him of using an obscenity, while he yelled at the line judge during his semi-final with Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik on Friday.
"The appeals committee concluded that, beyond forfeiting the match, customary penalties associated with a default – namely loss of rankings points and prize money for the entire tournament – would be disproportionate in this case," the ATP said in a statement on Monday.
Bublik lead 6-7(4) 7-6(5) 6-5 at the time, and was awarded the win despite saying that he was happy to continue, and went on to lose the final against France's Ugo Humbert.
Rublev's fine of $36,400 for the code violation remains in place after the appeal, which took into consideration testimonies from players and officials and a review of video and audio material.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
