It is not only Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum who believe entertaining is just as important as winning. Bazball? Here at Wimbledon it’s Bublikball.
No Kyrgios? No problem. The Australian electrified the Championships last year with his antics and outrageous shotmaking on the way to the final. He withdrew on the eve of this event due to a wrist injury, but he has anointed Alexander Bublik as his spiritual successor.
'It's good to see another guy like that take my place when I do eventually go,’ Kyrgios said in 2021. 'All the tennis world: "Thank God, Kyrgios is gone". You're going to have to deal with Bublik now.’
The Kazak is known for his penchant for underarm serves - he infamously hit six in a single game here last year - and his other party trick is one not even Kyrgios has attempted: hitting the ball with the handle of his racket.
But in his second-round match on Thursday morning Bublik restricted himself to the more traditional approach of using his strings, and there was not an underarm serve in sight.
Alexander Bublik won in straight sets after impressing fans with his style of tennis play
The 26-year-old seed took down American JJ Wolf 6-3, 7-6, 6-0 to progress from Court 15
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The 26-year-old took down American JJ Wolf 6-3, 7-6, 6-0 with a blistering display that sent a clear message to the rest of the field: Bublik is here to have fun, but he’s also here to win.
He claimed the biggest title of his career last month on the grass of Halle and is at a career-high ranking of No26. He is married with a young son and looks ready to knuckle down and harness all his outlandish talent. There is not much he cannot do with a tennis ball.
His heavily tattooed right arm rifles down serves of up to 140mph and his second delivery is not much slower. He is 6ft 5in, a natural athlete, and allies booming groundstrokes to graceful hand skills.
There was still some peculiar behaviour yesterday but there was always method to his madness. A few times as his opponent was about to deliver a second serve, Bublik crept further forward until he was almost standing on the service line. He did so on the key point of the match in the second set tiebreak and extracted a Wolf double fault to concede the set.
Then, after hitting a poor drop shot, Bublik gave a pantomime performance of giving up on the point before suddenly darting to retrieve the ball.
Asked about his lack of underarm serves against Wolf, he told Mail Sport: 'It’s a Slam, you gotta be composed and ready to play.’
Kazakhstan's Bublik faces the German Maximilian Marterer on Friday in the third round
If Bublik beats Germany’s Maximilian Marterer on Friday and wins his next match he is due to face Novak Djokovic in the quarters.
Ironically, his best chance of taking down the tournament favourite might be to lean back towards his more maverick instincts.
Beat Djokovic on Centre Court, where he has not lost for 10 years? This guy might just be crazy enough to do it.
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