Bublik, More than Ever, Is in it to Win it

Suddenly it feels like he sky is the limit for Alexander Bublik, and it’s about time. Always wildly talented, always grossly entertaining, Bublik had developed a reputation as a guy who simply didn’t care all that much about winning.

But those days appear to be in the past, at least for now.

Bublik spoke at length about being close to retiring for a spell last year, when he suddenly became one of the biggest stories or 2025 Roland-Garros, both for his breakout run – he reached the quarterfinals, his first at any major – and for his candid manner in dealing with the press.

That seachange in form has stuck and Bublik, who won four titles last year and rose to the cusp of the Top 10 (finishing the year at No.13) last year, has continued to exemplify the proverbial man on a mission in 2026. Credit to the 28-year-old. He did it his way, taking his time and enjoying the philosophical route on tour.

He’s a changed man in terms of competitive effort these days, and that is why there is a new level of interest in this enigmatic, effervescent phenom. He’s streaming through the tennis firmament like a comet, right before our eyes. Can he keep it up?

The eternal question…

Bublik says he has no regrets for indulging his inner child in the past. He is who he is, and that’s why he’s able to process the vicissitudes of being a tennis nomad better than most these days. He has the perspective of seeing the good and bad of the grind from both sides of the spectrum.

“Looking back, I would not change a thing,” he said on Day 5 in Melbourne, after finishing off Marton Fucsovics in straight sets. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to Alex Bublik in five years’ time. Will I be locked in like now, or maybe even more, or maybe even hungrier? Or will I say, Guys, I don’t want to come to some tournaments because I want to be home.”

Bublik says by taking his time and doing things his way, he has kept valuable parts of his being intact. He has often talked about the fact that he can’t be a machine like the Sinners and Djokovic’s of the world. He can only be Bublik.

“So for me it is more of a natural way and learning from your mistakes,” he said. “I guess that’s important to keep yourself full, you know, not break parts or give pieces to someone because someone told you that this is a good way you should do it, you know, squeeze your teeth, you go work, and then at the end it’s nice if you succeed. What if you don’t?”

But the winning – and he’s done quite a bit of it since spring – appears to be contagious.

“I enjoy more winning than in the previous years,” he said. “For me it’s really, like, that’s how I started to play, like probably from around Madrid, Rome, Turin last year. And I continue with that.

“You know when the things are working and think you have to change something. So for me it is more about keeping the consistency, keeping the rhythm, doing the things that are working now. As long as it’s working, I’ll try to continue.”

Bublik, who recently became the first player from Kazakhstan to crack the Top-10, says he has matured with age. He has won 36 of his last 45 matches on tour – he didn’t need to say it, we can see that in his tennis, and hear it in his words.

“With years to come I aged a bit, I matured a bit,” he said. “I think, as I said in the past, I’m treating it more like a work. Like, you know, I came here to do things. I came here to win matches. I came here to do everything that is in my power… to get the win.

“So I’m trying to fight. I’m trying to get the balls back. This is the mentality I [caught], as I said, since last year. And I try to continue, because I mean I have no joy of coming here, taking the third set, losing, I don’t know, in five, you know, yelling, breaking racquets. I don’t feel need to do that.

“So for me it’s more about fighting. If I can fight till the end and try to get the win, it’s good that it worked today, but we’ll see how it’s going to be in the next matches.”