Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray retired in 2024

Alexander Bublik has made the controversial claim that Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray’s retirements in 2024 were a “circus” and a “disgrace.”

The world No 33 revealed players once looked at Nadal and Murray “with our mouths open in the locker room”, but criticised the legendary duo for continuing to play after it was clear they would “never be the same.”

Murray called time on his career after the 2024 Paris Olympics in August — over seven years after suffering a serious hip injury in 2017.

The 37-year-old Brit, a three-time major champion, had surgery on his hip in 2018 before undergoing hip resurfacing surgery in 2019.

A 38-year-old Nadal joined his fellow former world No 1 in retirement in November after playing his last-ever match at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.

The Spaniard won his 22nd Grand Slam — and 92nd and final career title — at the 2022 French Open. Following that, Nadal was unable to compete regularly due to injury issues, including a hip problem at the start of 2023.

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In an interview with Match TV, Bublik explained he had changed his mind having previously claimed he wanted to retire early.

“Everything I said before turned out to be too expressive and not true,” the 27-year-old admitted. “I always thought that I would finish early, but now it seems that I will play for many years. I want to perform for a long time.

“Let’s put it this way: if I play another eight or nine seasons like this, I’ll be 35 or 36 years old — that’ll be good. If I can play the next eight or nine out of 10 years at the same level as now, I’ll be happy.”

Despite this, the former world No 17 argued both Nadal and Murray waited too long to bring the curtain down on their glittering careers.

“Yes, I want to leave at the peak,” Bublik continued. “It is clear that I am not Rafa, my legacy will be much smaller, if you can call it that. What happened to Andy Murray and Rafa is a circus. I can’t call it anything else.

“These people achieved everything, even we, tennis players, looked at them with our mouths open in the locker room, and then you see one of them bald and old.

“It is clear that he is not the same and will never be the same. In my opinion, it is even a disgrace, not a circus. Perhaps it would be more correct to say so. Although Rafa still left normally.”

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