Rap-loving No 134 wants to control the tempo against Andy
THE rap enthusiast with the Eminem tattoos on his right arm wants to make Wimbledon’s defending champion Andy Murray dance to his tune tomorrow.
World No 134 Alexander Bublik says he dropped his mobile phone and was left shaking in a cafe when he discovered he would be opening up Centre Court with Murray.
Bublik has two Eminem tattoos. One says: ‘Always be a leader, not a follower.’ And the other: ‘You won’t break me, you’ll just make me stronger than I was.’
It will take some doing to not be broken by the world No 1, but Bublik, 20, wants to give Murray a run for his money in the first round.
Asked about the ink on his arm, Bublik said: ‘They’re the thoughts of Eminem. I’m a big fan of rap. I love music.
‘I can rap good. In my box in the match, there’s going to be a lot of rappers. Really famous Russian ones, like with two or three million followers.
‘The basement of Russian rap is St Petersburg, near to my hometown, so there is a club and they are there and I hang out with them.’
The stage at SW19 will be bigger than that of a bar in a Russian city, and Bublik is not afraid to admit he will be nervous when he walks on to Centre Court.
Bublik was born in Russia but now represents Kazakhstan, and is coached by his father Stanislav.
Asked how he found out he was facing Murray, Bublik said: ‘I woke up in the morning, we go to Starbucks, grab a tea. I was hitting my phone and my father texted me, like: “Hi, you’re playing Andy Murray”.
‘I’m, like: “Ha! Of course not. Are you kidding me?” And he’s like: “No, you’re playing Andy”. And I’m, like: “Nah”.
‘He’s like: “Check the draw”. And I open up and I see my name next to Andy Murray and my phone just fell out of my hand.
‘I’m, like: “Nah, it can’t be real. Can’t be real”. I’m on my phone and I’m updating like an idiot. I was updating every second. I was, like, this cannot be for real.
‘I was calling my manager and he was like: “Nah, that’s just a joke. Stop it”. And then when I realised, I was, like, OK. For 30 minutes my head was shaking.’