No. 6 Match of '23: Andrey Rublev steals the show from Bublik to win Wimbledon spectacle

Tennis Channel will re-air this match on December 9 at 7 P.M. ET.

For the better part of three hours, Alexander Bublik played the ringmaster of Centre Court, while Andrey Rublev was the tiger raging in his cage.

Bublik fired 39 aces and hit 67 winners. He flipped in an underhand serve, and let a 135-m.p.h. second ball fly when he was down match point. After losing the first two sets, he stole the third from under Rublev’s nose, 8-6 in a tiebreaker. In the fourth, he saved two match points, and, down 3-5 in another tiebreaker, stole that set as well. Bublik charmed the audience with his devil-may-care demeanor and seat-of-the-pants shotmaking. All of which left the red-maned Rublev seething as he tried to figure out what trick Bublik would play next.

Finally, in the fifth set, the tiger got the better of the master. Rublev broke Bublik for the first time in two hours, and served for the match at 5-4. Rublev had held all 36 times he served that day, but Bublik had one last circus shot in him. Down 30-15 at 5-4, he sprinted to his left, let a backhand go down the line, and let out a long, loud grunt as his shot seemed to rocket past Rublev. At least one Bublik supporter stood up and raised a fist in celebration.

A second later, he was sitting down again, and the Rublev fans around him were on their feet. With a long stretch of his right arm, and a last-millisecond grip change, Rublev stole the show back. While Bublik was basking in his own glory, Rublev stuck his racquet out and sliced the ball back a few inches over the net for a miracle winner. Rublev stumbled to the grass, and left Bublik standing stock still, grinning in disbelief. Five seconds after that, Rublev finished the match with an ace.

“I don’t know how I make it,” Rublev said, calling it “probably the luckiest shot ever.”

“I didn’t even see the ball. I didn’t even see how I hit it. I didn’t even see how it went. I realize it after when the people start to scream and I see the face of [Bublik], then I realize that I make it somehow.”

Lucky or not, Rublev couldn’t deny that it felt good to out-show a showman.

“This moment for sure [is] one of the highlights of my life,” he said

Despite being a perennial Top Tenner, Rublev has never been past the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam. He wouldn’t make it this time, either, losing to Novak Djokovic in the quarters two days later. Still, it was an improvement over his 2022 Wimbledon, when he was banned along with his fellow Russians. On this day, Rublev showed the patience and mental stamina that haven’t always been his strengths, and it carried over for the rest of his season. He would finish ranked a career-best No. 5.

“‘Don’t start to explode before the match is over,’” was Rublev’s advice to himself against Bublik.

He kept his cool, and let Centre Court explode around him.