The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is making some changes for this year’s tournament as they have decided to implement the electronic line-calling system following the 2024 Andrey Rublev scene, via Reem Abulleil.
If you remember well, the Russian tennis star delivered one of the most shocking moments of the 2024 season while competing in the United Arab Emirates.
After a line umpire failed to call what he thought was a clear out from Alexander Bublik and the Kazakh went 6-5 up in their semifinal match, the 27-year-old got into the face of one line judge and screamed at him in frustration.
Andrey Rublev© YouTube screenshot
While pretty much everyone agreed that Rublev’s actions were inappropriate – to the Russian’s defense – many argued that it could have been avoided by simply using the electronic line-calling system.
A year later, the Dubai event – which hosts a WTA 100 tournament next week and then an ATP 500 tournament – is ditching line umpires with artificial intelligence.
Dubai tournament director Salah Tahlak: We won’t have problems like last year
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships tournament director Salah Tahlak announced that they’ll be using electronic line calling this year so “we won’t have any problems like last year”.
Rublev was disqualified during last year’s semis for screaming in the face of a line judge.
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) February 15, 2025
After last year’s incident, Rublev was disqualified – and by the rule – he was supposed to lose all of his tournament prize money and ranking points.
But after appealing, he retained his prize money and ranking points but had to pay a $36,400 fine.
When addressing it, Rublev expressed his remorse but also suggested it would be nice if some things could be done to prevent such things from happening again in the future.
“I want to thank the appeal committee for approving my appeal and changing course on the ATP’s initial decision of disqualifying me from the Dubai semifinal and taking away the ranking points and prize money I earned last week,” the Russian said in a statement last March.
“I hope that in the future, the ATP will take a closer look at this rule and make changes to it, so that an official can’t force a match outcome without having clear evidence and not letting the player have video review.”
Meanwhile, Rublev is set to return to Dubai this year despite last year’s drama.
Tennis World USA