Andy Murray accuses fellow tennis pros of ‘being in the wrong’ after furiously lashing out

Andy Murray has called for his rivals to be more respectful of tennis officials, admitting that his behaviour may have overstepped the mark on some occasions. The Brit’s comments come after Andrey Rublev was disqualified in Dubai last weekend for unsporting conduct.

During his bout with Alexander Bublik, Rublev confronted a line judge and was promptly defaulted. The Russian star has since appealed the decision but his fine of £28,700 has remained in place, though did keep his prize money and ranking points from the competition.

The incident has thrown the conduct of tennis stars into the limelight, and Murray believes that players need to learn from rugby and speak to officials more respectfully. He said: “All of us players – and I think I’ve been guilty of it myself – we need to be a little bit careful of the way that we speak to officials and treat officials.

“There’s a huge difference between rugby and football – rugby is a great example for how to deal with it. Officials are dealt with respectfully and we could probably do a better job with it in tennis as well. At the end of the day, we as players shouldn’t be doing that. We are the one in the wrong – not the official.”