Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva has apologised after she came under fire for her “terrible behaviour” towards a ball girl at the US Open.
The 29-year-old was on her way to a third-round defeat to Italy’s Jasmine Paolini when she was booed by the crowd at the Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York after appearing to snub a ball girl.
Footage shows three balls being tossed towards Putintseva ahead of her next serve – but the player ignored them, staring back at the girl without moving her position.
It appeared to leave the ball girl in an awkward position before Putintseva eventually scooped up one of the balls to resume the match.
But the angry crowd turned against Putintseva, while tennis commentators from across the world also expressed their surprise at the player’s behaviour.
Former US Open champion Boris Becker wrote on X: “Who does Putintseva think she is … Terrible behaviour towards the ball girl !!!”
Putintseva later revealed she was frustrated after missing the chance to capitalise on two break points in the second set.
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In a post on social media, Putintseva wrote: “I want to apologize to the ball girl for the way I was, when she was giving me balls.
“Honestly speaking it was not about her. I was really pissed at myself by not winning the game from the breakpoint 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.”
Putintseva was hoping to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for only the second time in her career – but went out to the fifth seed, 6-3 6-4.