Veronika Kudermetova declares Alexander Bublik "a special case" and describes his doubles comments as "a bit stupid," but also adds that the 29-year-old has been outspoken since his childhood.
In 2021, Bublik made his first Grand Slam final when he teamed up with fellow Kazakh Andrey Golubev at the French Open. That year, the Kazakh duo fell just short of winning the title after home duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut came back from a set down to win the final 4-6 7-6 (1) 6-4.
After enjoying a great 2021 French Open run, Bublik offered some pretty harsh words on doubles, ripping the competition as "not real tennis." Also, the current singles world No. 11 suggested that doubles players were nothing but players who didn't have enough talent to succeed in singles.
ADVERTISEMENT
Kudermetova, who has known Bublik since he was nine, recently won the WTA Finals doubles title. Overall, the 28-year-old Russian has 12 WTA doubles titles and she is currently the sixth-ranked player in the competition.
Kudermetova: It was a bit stupid statement on Bublik's part
"Sasha is a special case here. He can say whatever he wants, but why isn't doubles tennis tennis? Sometimes you make more money than some singles players. I think if he were playing doubles and showing good results, he wouldn't be throwing around such comments. Like, damn, Sasha, think about it for a second. I don't have any other feelings about it, because I think it was a bit of a stupid statement on his part," Kudermetova said, via Championat.
While Kudermetova wasn't impressed with Bublik's statement on doubles, she wasn't surprised.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I've known Sasha since he was probably nine or ten. We played a lot of tournaments together here in Vsevolozhsk, and he's been like that since he was a kid. I'd rather keep quiet about a lot of things," the Russian WTA player added.
