Kazakhstan's top-ranked men's singles player, Alexander Bublik, revealed details of the injury that forced him to retire from his Almaty Open semifinal during a press conference, infohub.kz reports.

The third seed reached the semifinals, where he faced Russia's Daniil Medvedev on October 24. Bublik lost the first set 3-6 and then withdrew. The cause was a knee injury sustained late in his previous match against Russia's Karen Khachanov.

"This is sport. You play one of the best matches of the season, beat a very tough and principled opponent, and get injured on the tiebreak of the third set at 5-4 — after 2.5 hours of play. Two minutes later you win the match, you're on cloud nine. The stands are chanting your name, you're happy. And when you walk off the court, you realize that tomorrow you might need crutches to walk," Bublik said.

According to him, all efforts were focused on recovery. "Unfortunately, we spent the whole morning in the hospital. We did procedures that would help me at least get out there. Twenty minutes before the match, we got the MRI results, and it said I shouldn't go on court. But we understood that I don't often get to Almaty and Kazakhstan. People were waiting for me, and I really wanted to go out and give them my game, my love. For me, it was a matter of principle," the tennis player noted.

He added that he pulled himself together as much as he could and did everything possible for his knee. "I thought I could play a couple of games, but in the end I managed to play a set, even hit a serve underhand. Overall, I did everything I could," Bublik emphasized.

The Kazakh noted that rules prohibit exchanging health information with an opponent, but he is sure Medvedev quickly realized the situation. "Tennis is a sport where we're in the same room. Probably someone from Daniil's team could have seen it. First I was limping, then my knee was taped. I didn't warm up properly because I was in the hospital until five in the evening. Probably Daniil could understand to some extent that something was wrong," he explained.

"I think when we went on court, he understood quickly. After all, we've been playing tennis for so many years and we see such nuances. Of course, Daniil played well enough to win. And why waste more energy?" Bublik said.

Earlier, in an on-court interview, the Kazakh warmly thanked the spectators for their support and said goodbye until next year. Bublik's current season is highly likely over: according to him, recovery from such an injury usually takes three to six weeks.