The chip-eating, underarm-serving Kazakh who will captivate Australia

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Alexander Bublik is not your typical tennis player.

He’s a chip-eating, tweener-deploying, underarm-serving Kazakh who has just cracked the top 10 for the first time, and is one of the sport’s great showmen.

Alexander Bublik drinking champagne after winning the final in Halle last year.

Bublik was ranked 80th in the world in April, but has since achieved his season goal of cracking the top 10 in the first two weeks of the year after winning the Hong Kong Open title.

He’s also had a win over Jannik Sinner in the past 12 months – a feat any player would love to have on their resume.

The secret to his success? Doing tennis his way. And there’s no one else who does tennis quite like him.

“I always talk to my coach about that,” Bublik said. “What I would do, what I would teach as a coach. Would I teach someone to be like Alex Bublik was? Never.

“Because I don’t think you can implement this way to many of the minds, many of the bodies, many of the tennis players because I think the right way is to be serious. The right way is to take every match as the last match, fight for the last one.

“If we take 1000 players, I think one can achieve what I achieved with that mindset that I have ... for me, I would never teach my way.

“It’s a fun way, it’s nice when you can have a pint of beer before going on court and win titles. It’s fun. It’s fun not to practice five hours a day, but can you play tennis like this?”

Well, Bublik can, and despite rattling around inside the top 50 for about seven years, things have started to come together for him in the past 12 months.

The mindset Bublik is talking about is that, for him, tennis is a “show”, and what’s the point of being on a show if you aren’t having fun?

Alexander Bublik during his win over Jannik Sinner at Halle last year.

The 28-year-old has become famous for his on-court antics, and there’s an endless stream of viral moments where he’s obviously having a blast on court.

Like when he leapt into the crowd at the 2024 Adelaide International while trying to get to a ball and helped himself to a fans’ packet of chips.

Or when he handed a ball kid his racquet this week during the Kooyong Classic and let him play a couple of points (it’s not the first time he’s done it).

Otherwise, it’s his frequent use of the tweener or underarm serve that gets the crowd going and keeps his opponents on his toes.

Despite embracing “his way”, that’s not to say he’s rigid. He’s open to changing something in his game or in his routine – but the change has to come from himself, not from anyone else.

If he wants to practise for an hour, he will. But if he thinks he needs more time on the court, he’s just as willing to head out to hit some more balls.

But it’s not all about the grind, says Bublik. “Yes. we make a living of it, but at the end it’s just a game that people play for fun.”

He is as much an entertainer as he is a tennis player, and it’s working for him so far.

Alexander Bublik after defeating Alex de Minaur at the French Open last year.

“Me and my team, we never call tennis an actual big sport. For me, it’s entertainment because you can have different ways of playing it,” he said.

“You can find someone can be talented, but not physically well, but he can still be actually a good tennis player. Someone can be super physical, but no talent at all, but he can still run out and make some results ... For me, this sport is about fun.

“It’s good, it’s physical, it’s technical, it’s tactical, but there is room for fun, and I think it’s a game in the first place, it’s not a sport. It’s not weightlifting, it’s a game. There are different rules. You can play this way, that way, doubles, mixed, short court, big court, whatever you can play, because it’s a game.”

Bublik is scheduled to play American Jenson Brooksby in the first round on Sunday.

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