Alexander Bublik plays tennis the way other people gamble, and he plays it for Kazakhstan, the country he chose over Russia in 2016. He owns one of the biggest serves in the game, then undercuts his own thunder with an underarm flick, a tweener or a drop shot from nowhere. He is a showman first, a shotmaker who would rather lose beautifully than win dull, his mood swinging from brilliance to boredom inside a game. Opponents such as Andrey Rublev learn to distrust every ball.
In 2025 the circus found a purpose. Bublik reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals, a first for any Kazakh man at a major, then beat world No. 1 Jannik Sinner on the Halle grass for a second title there, the finest win of his life. His 9 career titles now span hard courts and grass, and a run of trophies carried him to a career high, proof that the trick shots were never only for show.
Eighty-three. That is where Quentin Halys was ranked coming into Kitzbuhel this week, and it did not matter: he beat the world number 11 and defending champion Alexander Bublik 6-4, 7-6(6) for the first ATP tour-level title of his career, in his second tour final at 29.
Match tale