Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva has apologized for her “terrible behavior” towards a ball girl at the US Open.

The 29-year-old was involved in an awkward moment during her third-round loss to Italian Jasmine Paolini that earned her heavy booing from the crowd at Flushing Meadows and criticism from the likes of Boris Becker and Piers Morgan.

The footage showed Putintseva being thrown two balls before her next serve, but the player ignored them and stared at the girl without changing her position.

This put the young player in a difficult position before Putintseva caught the third ball and continued the match when she was 2-4 down in the second set.

In a message on social media, she wrote: “I would like to apologize to the ball girl for my behavior when she gave me balls.”

Ignoring the ball girl’s attempts to throw the balls to her, Yulia Putintseva allowed the first ball to hit her upper body (left), while the second one bounced off her feet and rolled away (right).

Putintseva did not acknowledge the ball girl as she caught the third ball, as the young girl held out her arms almost in disbelief at what had just happened

Putintseva, 29, was later criticised for her “terrible behaviour” towards the ball girl

Putintseva has since apologized for her behavior on social media, saying she was “mad” at herself at the time of the match as it happened during a straight-set loss.

“Honestly, it wasn’t about her. I was really mad at myself for not being able to win the game 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 did great at the Open, as always.”

The first ball that the young girl wanted to pass to Putintseva was ignored by the Kazakh player and instead allowed to bounce off her upper body.

Her second attempt to throw the ball to the player was again ignored as it bounced off Putintseva’s feet – and the player turned her head to see the ball rolling away from her.

Then there were loud boos against Putintseva, who caught the third ball without paying attention to the ball girl.

Then Putintseva tried to grab one of the balls, which she had previously ignored because the ball girl had her arms outstretched.

When Putintseva returned to the baseline, she took no notice of the ball girl. In the footage, the ball girl could be seen returning to her seat with a wry smile and shaking her head at what had just happened.

Former US Open champion Boris Becker criticizes Putintseva’s behavior on social media

Former US Open champion Becker led the criticism, writing on X: “What does Putintseva think she is doing… terrible behavior towards the ball girl.”

His tweet was a response to a tweet about an “ugly moment” during the game.

Piers Morgan also spoke out on social media and sharply criticized Putintseva’s “disgusting arrogance.”

Boris Becker and Piers Morgan were among the prominent names who attacked Putintseva

Jasmine Paolini defeated the Kazakh player in two sets and reached the fourth round

He wrote: “Disgusting arrogance from @PutintsevaYulia – the ball girl should have thrown the third one in her mocking face.”

Three-time Grand Slam doubles champion Rennae Stubbs posted: “The disrespect and disgusting behavior here is unbelievable and typical of her.”

Putintseva won only two more games, while fifth-seeded Paolini easily advanced to the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-4 win.