Yulia Putintseva was given strong criticism for her poor treatment of a ball girl at the US Open last year.
The Kazakhstani star made her tenth main draw appearance in the final Grand Slam tournament of the tennis calendar in 2024.
Putintseva, who qualified as the 30th seed, beat both Linda Noskova and Wang Xinyu in straight sets to reach the third round in New York.
Jasmine Paolini was her next opponent, and ultimately too much to handle as the Italian ran out as the 6-3, 6-4 winner.
But an incident during the second set meant Putintseva was not only out of the US Open but also facing a backlash for her behviour.
At 4-2 down, a ball girl collected three balls and offered them to the trailing player.
She held them aloft and began to throw them towards Putintseva, who just stood there and let them hit her.
It drew boos and jeers from the crowd at Flushing Meadows, with the then 29-year-old finally choosing two balls for her serve.
After the defeat to Paolini, the 1989 men’s singles champion and tennis legend Boris Becker hit out at Putintseva’s actions on court.
“Who does Putintseva think she is… Terrible behaviour towards the ball girl!!!” he said in response to a video of the incident on X.
“Disgusting arrogance by Putintseva – the ball girl should have thrown the 3rd one in her taunting face,” Piers Morgan added.
The Daily Mail also called Putintseva ‘tennis’ sorest loser’, who issued an apology on social media amid the backlash.
Putintseva had no response to the ball girl giving her balls@MerThomp X She simply watched them hit her and roll away in poor scenes@MerThomp X Finally, Putintseva caught one of the balls and picked up another before serving@MerThomp X“I want to apologise to the ball girl for the way I was when she was giving me the balls,” she said on Instagram.
“Honestly speaking it was not about her.
“I was really p***** off 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 an amazing as always at the Open.”
Putintseva returned to Grand Slam action in January at the Australian Open, which ended in another third round exit.
She crashed out in the same stage at the French Open, with another scene of controversy following at the Bad Homburg Open.
Becker, among many other tennis fans, were left far from impressed with her conductGetty Putintseva hasn’t reached the last eight at a Grand Slam since the 2020 US OpenAFPMaria Sakkari won their first round clash and afterwards, Putintseva seemingly told her to ‘Go f*** herself’.
Sakkari responded with ‘Nobody likes you!’ during a tense exchange.
Just a week later at Wimbledon, Putintseva fell to a double bagel defeat in the first round to eventual finalist Amanda Anisimova.
Ahead of the final game of the match, she broke down in tears into her towel.
The upcoming US Open will offer the chance of redemption, with the 2020 quarter-finals the furthest she’s reached at the tournament.
However, Putintseva recently suffered defeat against Renata Zarazua in the first round of the Cincinnati Open.
View Tweet: twitter.com/PutintsevaYulia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Hence then, the article about boris becker slammed tennis sorest loser for terrible us open behaviour to ball girl was published today ( ) and is available on talksport ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Boris Becker slammed ‘tennis’ sorest loser’ for terrible US Open behaviour to ball girl )
Also on site :
- ‘Yashasvi Jaiswal will need to wait longer for RR captaincy, Dhurv Jurel closest match to Sanju Samson’
- Speed, style, and Monaco magic: Alonso’s perfect Sunday ride
- AS Roma vs. Genoa CFC Prediction, Picks, Live Odds – December 29