- Yulia Putintseva ignored the ball girl’s attempts to throw the ball to her
- She was loudly booed by the crowd for her actions during her third round loss
- The 29-year-old from Kazakhstan has apologized via social media
Kazakh Yulia Putintseva has apologised for her “appalling behaviour” towards a ball girl at the US Open.
The 29-year-old was involved in a nasty moment during her third-round defeat to Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, which saw the crowd at Flushing Meadows boo her and she was criticised by Boris Becker and Piers Morgan, among others.
Footage shows two balls being thrown to Putintseva before her next serve. The player ignores these balls and looks at the girl without changing position.
That put the young lady in a difficult position until Putintseva caught the third ball and resumed the match when she was trailing 4-2 in the second set.
In a social media post, she wrote: ‘I want to apologize to the ball girl for the way I behaved when she gave me balls.
Yulia Putintseva ignored the ball girl’s attempts to throw the balls towards her, causing the first ball to hit her torso (left), while the second bounced off her feet and rolled away (right).
Putintseva didn’t look at the ball girl as she caught the third ball, while the young girl held out her arms almost in disbelief at what had just happened
Putinseva, 29, was later criticised for her “appalling behaviour” towards the ball girl
Putintseva has since apologized for her actions via social media, saying she was “angry” with herself during the match when it happened during a three-set defeat.
‘Honestly, it wasn’t about her. I was really pissed off at myself for not winning the match from break point and then I was empty of my emotions and deep in my thoughts, that I didn’t even concentrate on what was going on and who gave me the ball…
‘As always all the ball boys did a great job at the open day.’
The first ball the young girl tried to pass to Putintseva was ignored by the Kazakh player. Instead, the ball hit her torso and bounced away.
Her second attempt to throw the ball to the player was again ignored as the ball bounced off Putintseva’s feet. The player turned her head to watch the ball roll away from her.
Then there were loud boos towards Putintseva, who caught the third ball without looking at the ball girl.
Putintseva then tried to grab one of the balls, which she had previously ignored, while the ball girl had her arms outstretched.
There was no acknowledgement of the ball girl as Putintseva returned to the baseline. Footage showed the ball girl returning to her post with an ironic smile and shaking her head at what had just happened.
Former US Open champion Boris Becker has criticized Putinseva’s behavior on social media
Former US Open champion Becker led the criticism when he wrote on X: ‘Who does Putintseva think she is… terrible behavior towards the ball girl.’
His tweet was in response to a tweet calling it an “ugly moment” during the match.
Piers Morgan also criticised Putin’s “disgusting arrogance” on social media.
Boris Becker and Piers Morgan were among the prominent names who criticised Putinseva
Jasmine Paolini defeated the Kazakh player in three sets to reach the fourth round
He wrote: ‘Disgusting arrogance of @PutintsevaYulia – the ball girl should have thrown the third in her face.’
Three-time Grand Slam doubles champion Rennae Stubbs wrote: “The disrespect and nasty behavior here is unbelievable and typical of her.”
Putintseva won only two more games, while fifth-seeded Paolini advanced to the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.