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Tennis player Yulia Putintseva has apologized to a ball girl at the US Open after her behavior was criticized following her third-round loss.
The footage showed Putintseva, seeded 30th, blatantly ignoring a ball girl as she tried to fulfill her role and throw balls to her during her serve.
Putintseva, 29, let the first two balls bounce off her, seemingly looking directly at the ball girl, before catching the third ball and turning away.
There were boos from the US Open crowd when Putintseva finally received the ball without paying any attention to the ball girl.
A video of the incident went viral on social media, with former world number one Boris Becker criticising Putintseva’s treatment of the ball girl.
“What does Putintseva think she’s doing…,” Becker posted on Twitter/X. “Terrible behavior towards the ball girl!!!”
Feliciano Lopez, the former Spanish player and director of the Madrid Open tournament, said Putintseva humiliated the ball girl.
“Shame on her!!!” Lopez replied. “Humiliating a ball boy is the last thing you do on a tennis court.”
Russian-born Putintseva, who plays for Kazakhstan and was seeded 30th at the tournament, lost in straight sets to French Open and Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini and said she was “angry” about her playing style.
“I want to apologize to the ball girl for my behavior when she gave me balls,” Putintseva said in her Instagram story.
“Honestly, it wasn’t about her. I was really mad at myself for not being able to win the match from the break point, and then I was so emotionally empty and lost in thought that I didn’t even focus on what was going on and who was giving me the ball.
“All the ball boys performed brilliantly at the Open, as always.”
Piers Morgan also criticized Putintseva and accused her of displaying “disgusting arrogance” in court.
Putintseva won only two more games after the incident, while Paolini won 6-3 and 6-4 to reach the fourth round.
Putintseva will receive $215,000 in prize money for reaching the third round.
