Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva is public enemy number one following her third-round loss to Jasmine Paolini after she was slammed on social media for a disrespectful interaction with a U.S. Open ball girl.
Social media video showed the terrible moment Putintseva appeared to give the ball girl a cold shoulder during the second set of Saturday’s 6-3, 6-4 loss.
Yulia Putintseva, a Russian-born Kazakhstani tennis player, appeared to give a ball girl attitude as she was just doing her job.
Putintseva was seen gesturing for a ball girl to throw her new balls but let two of them bounce off her body before she finally caught the third.
The fans in the stands saw it go down and began booing her for her behavior.
The ball girl stood motionless for a moment with her hands in the air before returning to the sidelines.
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Her actions were so bad that former world No. 1 Boris Becker was among those who condemned Putintseva’s actions, calling her behavior “terrible.”
“Who does Putintseva think she is … Terrible behaviour towards the ball girl !!!” Becker wrote on X.
Other fans joined in with the condemning of Yulia Putintseva:
Yulia Putintseva Issues Apology for Her Terrible Behavior Towards Ball Girl
Yulia Putintseva has apologized for repeatedly treating a ball girl with contempt while being passed balls during a recent U.S. Open match.
The Russian-born Kazakhstani tennis player wrote on her Instagram Story Sunday, “I want to apologize to the ball girl for the way I was when she was giving me balls,” the athlete said.
“Honestly speaking it was not about her,” she continued, Sports Illustrated reports. “I was really pissed at myself by not winning the game from the break point and then got empty with my emotions and deep in my thoughts, that I was not even focusing on what’s going on and who gives me the ball … All the ball kids [were] doing amazing as always at the Open.”
With her elimination, Putintseva is done at the U.S. Open, but she did play against Karolina Muchova in the round of 16 on Monday.
