Andy Murray has asserted that he will try to use it to his advantage if Andrey Rublev is “frustrated” and loses focus in the pair’s showdown at the 2024 Indian Wells Open.
The former world No 1 also claimed “lines have probably been crossed” by players in recent years in their behaviour towards officials after Rublev’s controversial disqualification in Dubai.
Andy Murray will face Rublev in an intriguing second round encounter at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells on Friday after cruising past David Goffin in the opening round.
It will be Rublev’s first match since he was defaulted deep in the third set of his Dubai Championships semi-final clash with Alexander Bublik after angrily protesting a call to a line judge.
The world No 5 was exasperated at the line judge for not calling a Bublik shot out and was then disqualified after another official claimed to the umpire he Rublev had sworn at his colleague. The Russian denied he had been speaking in Russian or sworn, with Bublik backing him up.
The 26-year-old has received a $36,000 fine, but he has had the ranking points and prize money he earned during the ATP 500 event reinstated after appealing — having lost them in the original punishment.
Prior to his match with Rublev, Murray called for players to show more respect for officials and admitted this is an area where he has not been perfect in his own career.
“That’s always been part of his personality. On the court, he’s an extremely intense dude and obviously desperate to win,” the three-time Grand Slam champion told The Times.
“I’ve seen him play extremely well when he’s very frustrated. Whether it affects how he actually plays in the points or not, I don’t know. Everyone is very different with that.
“Some people can get extremely frustrated and it’s not a problem during the next point. I’d say Novak [Djokovic] is someone who is a good example of that. But if Rublev is frustrated and I feel like he’s losing focus, I will try to use it to my advantage.
“All of us players – and I think I’ve been guilty of it myself – we need to be a little bit careful of the way that we speak to and treat officials.
“There’s a huge difference between rugby and football – rugby is a great example for how to deal with it. Officials are dealt with respectfully and we could probably do a better job with it in tennis as well.
“At the end of the day, we as players shouldn’t be doing that. We are the one in the wrong – not the official. I understand in the heat of battle and stuff, sometimes things happen.
“But for the last four or five years, there has been a number of instances where lines have probably been crossed, and maybe not enough has been done about it.
“So I think we all probably have to have a bit of a look at ourselves and go, ‘is this really the way we want to be dealing with officials or bad line calls?’”
