Yuliya Putintseva has been forced to make a public apology after a “disgusting” act towards a ball girl during her third round loss at the US Open.
Putintseva was booed around the Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York after she snubbed a ball girl and refused to acknowledge her existence during an ugly moment that has angered tennis commentators.
Kazakhstan’s Putintseva appeared to take her frustrations out on the ball girl by staring at the back of the court while the ball girl was in position to pass her balls for her next serve.
Viral videos show the 29-year-old rudely ignored the young fan and did not react when the ball girl bounced two balls towards her.
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Bizarrely, Putintseva let the two balls bounce off her torso and leg before begrudgingly picking up the third ball.
Putintseva then went and retrieved one of the other balls before walking up to the service line.
Her cold behaviour did not go unnoticed in the stadium and the crowd was cheering against her for the rest of the match.
Fifth seed Jasmine Paolini was too good for Putintseva and the Italian moved into the fourth round with a 6-3 6-4 victory.
Tennis commentators around the world were also cheering against Putintseva.
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German legend Boris Becker wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Who does Putintseva think she is? Terrible behaviour towards the ball girl”.
Aussie champ Rennae Stubbs posted: “The disrespect and obnoxious behaviour here is unbelievable and typical from her”.
Piers Morgan also shared a video of the incident and wrote: “Disgusting arrogance by @PutintsevaYulia the ball girl should have thrown the 3rd one in her taunting face”.
Leading American tennis commentator Jon Wertheim also wrote: “Those boos weren’t nearly loud enough…. so, so poor, this”.
There was also plenty of praise for the way the ball girl handled the situation. The young tennis fan held her nerve and carried out her duties despite the anger emanating from Putintseva.
She was also seen shaking her head in disbelief when she returned to her position at the back of the court following the incident.
American tennis commentator Brad Gilbert wrote on Twitter: “Tremendous effort from the Ball girl to raise her arms. Ball persons should never ever get dissed, since so many former players were a ball kid as well”. He also mockingly said Putintseva should have been given a “straight red card”.
Putintseva eventually responded to the outcry with a message on Instagram.
“I want to apologise to the ball girl for the way I was, when she was giving me balls,” Putintseva wrote on her Instagram stories.
“Honestly speaking it was not about her. I was really pissed at my self 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 whats going on and who gives me the ball.
“All the ball kids was doing amazing as always at the open”.
Paolini has now made the fourth round of all four Slams this year having previously never got beyond the second round in 16 attempts.
She will next play Karolina Muchova on Tuesday morning (AEST).
