Bublik on Moutet: “I Just Had to Punish Him”

The last time Alexander Bublik and Corentin Moutet met they nearly came to blows after the match. This time around, the words were weapons.

Bublik played flawless tennis on Wednesday night in Paris, taking out Moutet 6-3, 7-5. After the match he signed the camera “On the way home.”

Those words were in reference to Moutet’s comments made prior to the match, apparently.

“He talked too much before the match, and I just had to punish him. I had no other option,” Bublik said on court after his win. .

“He said that he will do everything to send me home, so it’s nice that he lives in Paris and it’s not too far with the taxi.”

To be fair, Moutet played a strong match and kept his emotions in check throughout. He had this to say about Bublik after the match.

“I tried to focus on myself,” Moutet said. “I don’t think it was personal. He likes to make fun of players. I don’t know what you expect from me. Some people talk; some people don’t. I guess he’s part of the first category. He loves to verbally clash with people.

“I don’t like that kind of thing. When things go beyond words, I know how people behave and I know what kind of character he is apart from the character that is shown in the media. So it’s no use talking behind the mic. He’s good enough to do that by himself. I’ll let him do it.”

When the pair met at the Phoenix Challenger in March things were much uglier. So it’s no surprise that the war of words continued, even with seven months in between the matches.