Andrey Rublev smashes racket against knee at Wimbledon in fit of rage

Andrey Rublev, known for his on-court bad behaviour, was at it again during his first-round defeat at Wimbledon. The Russian tennis star vented his frustration by smashing his racket into his knee after missing a shot against Francisco Comesana at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

The No. 6 seed lost his cool in the fifth game of the third set on Court Two on Tuesday afternoon.

After sending a backhand wide to concede a breakpoint, he responded by hammering his racket into his knee six times in anger. He paused briefly to yell towards his team before giving his racket one more hit into his knee.

"Wow! You will see some angry reactions at this year's Wimbledon, but that's extraordinary from Rublev," the commentator said. "And it's because the man who is playing in just his second ever grass-court match has just gone a double-break up in the third set."

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Comesana took the third set 6-2 to lead 2-1 in sets against his higher-ranked opponent. The 23-year-old Argentine triumphed in four sets, 6-4 5-7 6-2 7-6, reports the Mirror.

Despite Rublev's impressive record of 16 ATP Tour titles, he has never advanced past the quarter-finals in Grand Slams, despite making it to the last eight 10 times.

The Russian tennis sensation's fiery temper has left fans stunned, with one tweeting: "His knees have become steel at this point, he does this almost every game," Another fan expressed their shock, commenting: "This is horrific. Why does he want to break his thigh out of frustration? ".

The meltdown comes just weeks after another outburst prompted Rublev to apologise and promise to chang. The incident saw the same aggressive knee-to-racket action, with the star kicking his chair, and shouting at the umpire during a loss to Matteo Arnaldi at the French Open.

Rublev reflected on his actions: "Completely disappointed with myself, the way I behaved, the way I performed. I don't remember behaving worse in a Slam ever. It was the first time I ever behaved that bad. I gave Matteo wings to fly and he was flying in the third set. The problem is the head. Today basically I kill myself and that's it. It was really bad behaviour from me."

Rublev, who faced disqualification at the Dubai Open for an outburst at a line judge, has acknowledged his struggle with anger, even receiving advice from Nick Kyrgios. He shared his ongoing efforts to improve, saying, "You work on it every day. There are many things in life that are stressing us out and make us very angry. You can practise how to be calm when you want to explode everything. Then my coach has psychology lessons."