ALMATY – Autograph sessions, commercial photo shoots and a prime-time exhibition match. That is how Alexander Bublik is spending the days leading up to his debut in Almaty, the city hosting Kazakhstan’s biggest tennis tournament, in the country that took him in back in 2016.
“I couldn’t be more thankful for playing for this country. Now it’s easy to say, top 10 in the world, I have everything a tennis player wants, but at that time I was just an 18-year-old boy who needed some faith in himself. I needed some support, I needed people who would care about me, and Kazakhstan gave me all of that,” said the Russian-born player.
Bublik’s last ATP appearance in Kazakhstan came in 2023, when the tournament was still held in Astana, the country’s capital. In both 2024 and 2025, the two-time Halle champion withdrew from the event because of physical problems.
That is finally behind the former world No. 10: “I’m happy that I finally made it here. It was always a pity that I couldn’t come here in the past years. I’m here to enjoy it, to give the Kazakh people some good tennis, some time with me and hopefully get some great results, because I guess that would be the highlight, being the first Kazakh champion here,” he told a press conference on Saturday.
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Bublik, currently ranked world No. 22, explained how he has gradually built his relationship with the local fans and developed his own sense of identity since deciding to stop representing Russia in 2016, a move motivated by the financial and technical support offered by the Kazakh tennis federation. It is a path commonly taken in tennis. At the time, he was 19 years old and ranked world No. 214.
“I developed an emotional connection to the people, to the country. I’m always proud when I come here. I don’t come here very often, but when I have a chance I try to come, I try to interact with the fans and interact with the people. I can fairly consider Kazakhstan my second home and, even though I’m still a foreigner in a way, I have a deep emotional connection to the people,” he said.
Over the past decade, Bublik has become one of the most entertaining players on tour, with a personality and game that set him apart. In 2025, a change in approach allowed him to back up those highlight-reel moments with significant results: titles in Halle, Gstaad, Kitzbühel and Hangzhou, a quarter-final at Roland Garros and a place in the top 10 at the start of this year.
With that record behind him, he arrives in Almaty to repay a debt to the country that believed in him. His first opponent will come from the match between Fabian Marozsan and Timofey Skatov. His second home will be waiting for him with a packed stadium.
