“It’s tennis, it’s a sport. You play your best, then you get injured at the last point of the game,” said Bublik. “You win one of the best matches of the season in your home country, it’s the tournament you’ve always wanted to play in, and then in ten hours you’re in the hospital getting an MRI, but that’s what sport is, it makes you tough.”
We, my team and the federation, have decided that I will give my best
He said he was told he had to withdraw shortly before the semi-finals.
“20 minutes before the match I was told not to play, we, my team and the federation made a decision that I will give my best, tape my knee and step on the court,” he said. “My goal was to step on the court, show my love to the fans of Almaty, show my love to the country. I thought I wasn’t going to last more than two or three games, but the crowd carried me and I stayed for the set, which was really an achievement and a victory for me today.”
The retirement ended hopes of the home favourite, who celebrated ten years representing Kazakhstan this week, becoming the first Kazakh champion at the Almaty Open.
Medvedev. “The knee is never an easy place.”
Medvedev, who now leads “Bublik” with a score of 7:1, showed Yannik. Sinner, who is out for the rest of the seasonand revealed that he had problems with his knee this summer.
“The knee, as we see even with Yannick, is never an easy place to get injured. “I was struggling a bit with the knee myself before the US series, so it’s never the best part of the body to get injured,” Medvedev said. “I’m just hoping it’s nothing too serious and maybe he can even play more this year. This would be nice to see, but it’s very sad.”
On Sunday, the defending champion faces qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili in the final as he attempts to defend his title for the first time in his career.
