The Loosest Cannon: Alexander Bublik locks in for career-best run at Roland Garros

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Be honest: Do you do everything you possibly can, and sacrifice every other part of your life, to try to be the best in the world at your job? Or would you rather perform it well enough to make a living, and also have the time to enjoy all of your non-work activities, like family, friends, time at home, time lying in front of the TV and being as lazy as you want to be?

These questions are prompted by the curious career of Alexander Bublik, a tennis player who says he wants to work hard enough to stay in the Top 50, to earn a million or two a year in prize money, to give his family a home in Monte Carlo—but no harder.

Read More: Alexander Bublik won’t change ‘his path’ after biggest win of career at Roland Garros

Bublik, a 6-foot-5, 27-year-old native of Russia with world-class hands and an even better serve, may have Top 10 talent. He has the height, he has the mix of power and touch, and few players can match him for shot-making creativity. If you like to watch front-facing tweeners, underhand serves, and drop shot returns, Bublik is your man.

But we may never know how far his talents could take him, because he has seen what it takes to stay in the Top 10, and he doesn’t any part of it. Bublik, who is married and has a three-year-old son, doesn’t want to devote every thought and minute to training, and doesn’t want punish his body to the point where he has pain for the rest of his life.

“Will I put my life and health on the line to have a 'might?' Maybe? No,” Bublik said this week when he was asked whether his good results at Roland Garros might tempt him to change his philosophy and push himself more.

“If I can't walk at the age of 40, it’s OK?” he asks.

“No, it’s not,” is his answer.

“It’s finding the balance,” he continues. “It’s doing necessarily what I have to do in order to be able to compete against the top of the game…I think I prioritize tennis and life in equal ways. For me it’s a 50/50 relationship.”

I got to No. 17 in the world, which was a big thing for me. I’m, like, ‘OK, I have to do this and that, I have to practice harder.’ I mean, work on my diet, stop drinking, stop partying. Have to be a more professional soldier. Then...I just burned out waiting for the results to come. Alexander Bublik

Bublik’s unconventional take on his career hasn’t led him to the top of the sport, but it does make him one of the most refreshing and jarringly funny interviews in tennis. He can be pigeonholed and criticized as a slacker, but he’s a slacker with a thought process.

After coming back from two sets down to beat Alex de Minaur in the second round, he was asked a standard question: “Where did your belief come from?” Most players, even smart and interesting ones, would have replied with something along the lines of, “I just kept telling myself to hang in.”

Instead, Bublik told us this:

“I was not thinking this way. I was checking the [plane] tickets already in my head. I didn’t really care, in a way. I was like, I’ll accept the loss. Being second round here, it’s [already] an achievement for me…I told my team, they know it, so it was not like if I lose, I would be upset. No, I would be happy and I would be home today in Monaco at 9:00 in the evening.”

“At the end I said, OK, I stayed there, I hit the ball. Then I had a slight chance. I used this chance.”

For most of his career, Bublik has achieved his goals. From 2021 to 2024, he finished each season ranked in the 30s. Being that consistent seems to show that he really does have a plan for what he wants to accomplish, despite his seat-of-his-pants approach on court. And while Bublik admits he’s “not the most professional guy on the planet,” he has always said that he does work hard on his game, because it takes a lot of work to stay in the Top 40.

In 2025, though, his lack of total dedication finally seemed to have caught up with him. Bublik came to Paris with a 7-13 record, and a ranking in the 60s.

Characteristically, he says that his demise came because, after cracking the Top 20 for the first time last year, he started working too hard.

“I got to No. 17 in the world, which was a big thing for me,” Bublik said. “I’m, like, ‘OK, I have to do this and that, I have to practice harder.’ I mean, work on my diet, stop drinking, stop partying. Have to be a more professional soldier.”

“Then I did it,” he says. But his ranking didn’t keep rising. “I just burned out waiting for the results to come.”

Now Bublik thinks he has found an approach that works for him. Perhaps not surprisingly, it came from the patron saint of talented free-spirits, Gael Monfils. When Bublik complained to the Frenchman earlier this year that he was on a losing streak, Monfils said that everyone on tour is much more professional these days, but most of the time, they’ll still give you a chance in a match.

“He said you wait for your chances. You have your chance, you use it. If you waste it, it’s your problem,” Bublik said. “This changed my perspective.”

That new perspective, he says, is what launched him into his stunning performance against Jack Draper on Monday, in which he took a young player on the rise, and a possible future Grand Slam winner, and dismantled him. Bublik, who hit 69 winners against 38 errors, called it “the best day of my life.” Now he’ll need to have an even better one, against an even better young opponent, Jannik Sinner.

“How high can Bublik climb?” could become an intriguing question again. But his philosophy has always posed a more interesting quandary: What should we make of a professional athlete who prioritizes work-life balance over single-minded, 24/7 dedication? Should we ask more of him than we ask of ourselves?

It’s finding the balance. It’s doing necessarily what I have to do in order to be able to compete against the top of the game…I think I prioritize tennis and life in equal ways. For me it’s a 50/50 relationship. Alexander Bublik

It may depend on which Bublik we see. When he’s on, and into it, he’s one of the most exciting performers in tennis, and his willingness to try high-risk shots only adds to the fun. When he’s off and not into it, his lack of seriousness can make for random tennis and a disappointing contest. He can also be a loose cannon; he has challenged opponents to fights, and two years ago he was criticized for calling a formerly injured opponent an “invalid.”

We want to see explosive shot-making, but we want to see players who are emotionally invested in their own success, too, and who play to win.

I also wonder if part of Bublik’s ambivalence comes from an aversion to pressure. When he served for the match against Draper, this normally insouciant athlete was clearly nervous; he rushed from one point to the next, and struggled to put a second serve in the court.

Hopefully, we’ll get to watch the good Bublik, the fighting Bublik, the wand-wielding Bublik see his chance against Sinner and do his best to take it.