Yulia Putintseva’s rude exchange with a US Open ball girl stirred up some painful memories for a London Times Columnist who spent his teenage years chasing fluorescent felt balls for ungrateful tennis stars.
“Every ball girl knows how easy it is to become the target of a player’s frustration,” wrote the former Queen’s Club tournament ball girl turned author and journalist. Claire Cohen.
Such was the case for Putintseva, who became the center of attention at the US Open after she apparently humiliated a ball girl during her third-round loss on Saturday.
The incident began when the exhausted 29-year-old Kazakh star waited for the ball girl to pass her three balls. But instead of mustering the energy to catch the first two, Putintseva unconcernedly let them fall to her side. It was only on the ball girl’s third attempt that Putintseva made the effort to catch them.
Putintseva has since apologized, but it wasn’t until after the US Open crowd booed her, something that sent “a wave of recognition (pulsing) through” Cohen.
London Times columnist and former ball girl Claire Cohen is pictured with Andy Murray
Yulia Putintseva ignored the ball girl’s attempts to throw balls at her, letting the first one hit her torso (left) while the second one bounced off her feet and rolled away (right).
Putintseva, 29, was later criticised for her “terrible behaviour” towards the ball girl.
The columnist recalled being hit by a serve from Lleyton Hewitt, who did not acknowledge the incident in any way.
He also referred to a defeated ‘antipodean’ player (someone from Australia or New Zealand), who shouted ‘what are you looking at?’ after passing Cohen, 14, and his friends as he left the court.
Cohen recalled other high-profile incidents, such as when Tim Henman was disqualified at Wimbledon in 1995 after accidentally hitting a ball into a ball girl’s ear. Henman later offered a public apology at a photocall at Wimbledon.
Novak Djokovic apologised in 2015 when he shouted at a Wimbledon ball girl, and earlier this year, Russian Pavel Kotov nearly hit a ball girl when he threw a ball against the back fence in frustration. Fortunately, the ball girl was not injured.
Greg Rusedski hands his racket to a ball boy during his match against Goran Ivanisevic in 2001
A ball girl with Djokovic, who once apologized for his anger with another ball girl at Wimbledon
There were also more light-hearted moments, such as when Goran Ivanisevic handed his racket to a ball girl, who then played a point against Australian Mark Philippoussis. Greg Rusedski had a similar moment against Ivanisevic at Wimbledon in 2001.
Putintseva has since apologized for her “terrible behavior” toward a ball girl at the US Open.
In a message on social media, he wrote: ‘I want to apologize to the ball girl for the way I was when she was giving me the balls.
‘To be honest, it wasn’t because of her. I was very angry with myself for not winning the game from the break point and afterwards I felt devoid of emotions and lost in my thoughts, not even concentrating on what was happening and who was giving me the ball…
‘All the ball kids did amazing as always at the Open.’