Tennis star Yulia Putintseva has issued a second apology for her behaviour at the US Open but denied suggestions she had “humiliated” a ball girl.
The 29-year-old was involved in an unpleasant moment during her third-round loss to Italian Jasmine Paolini, which led to her being heavily booed by the crowd at Flushing Meadows and criticised by the likes of Boris Becker and Piers Morgan.
The footage showed two balls being thrown towards Putintseva before her next serve, only for the player to ignore them and stare at the girl without moving from her position.
This left the youngster in an awkward position, before Putintseva grabbed the third ball before resuming the match when she was down 4-2 in the second set.
Putintseva apologised for her “terrible behaviour” earlier this week on social media, insisting she was “angry” with herself and not the ball girl.
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 did not recognise the ball girl when she caught the third ball, as the young woman spread her arms out almost in disbelief at what had just happened.
The tennis star issued a second apology for the incident and posted a photo highlighting her disappointment at losing a game, rather than trying to “humiliate” the ball girl.
The Kazakh player, world number 32, has now shared photos of the incident.
Putintseva said the photos highlighted her disappointment at not being able to win the ball back from Paolini, rather than from the ball girl.
The star also admitted he was “guilty” of bad behaviour on the court in the past, while revealing he planned to organise something special for the ball girl following the incident.
“It’s scary how the world can judge someone based on a three-second video that someone posted from the sidelines without seeing the rest of what was actually happening,” she wrote.
‘I was playing tennis and lost a difficult match, which was very close (in my opinion) to turning the match around. After the match (as you can see in a photo) I was very disappointed and almost cried for not having done better. At that moment the girl gave me the ball, but I didn’t even notice because I was deep in my thoughts…
‘I wasn’t trying to humiliate her (or anyone) by not taking this ball that had been handed to me.
‘I didn’t do anything disrespectful to anyone at that particular time. I apologize if this girl thinks it was something towards her. (And by the way, her name is Kate, a very nice girl, who understood that it was nothing towards her)
‘I can’t say I’ve been perfect my whole career. Sometimes I get angry on the court, I get pissed off, I say stupid things and I swear like there’s no tomorrow. I feel guilty about that. But I never put myself ‘above’ anyone. That’s not my thing at all.
“I hope you can see it from a different angle now. I mean, I know the hate will continue to hate and this post is getting too long, so I’m going to stop here.
Putintseva insisted she did nothing disrespectful and said she was deep in thought at the time.
The 29-year-old had been criticised for her behaviour by several prominent tennis figures.
Putintseva issued an initial apology on social media for her actions, saying she was “angry” with herself at the time of the match when it occurred during a straight-sets loss.
‘And lastly, since Kate is already in this mess, I’m trying to do something special for her.’
Footage of the incident, posted on social media, showed the ball girl attempting to pass a ball to Putintseva, but the Kazakhstan player let it hit her torso and bounced off.
Her second attempt to throw the ball towards the player was again ignored as it bounced off Putintseva’s feet and the player turned her head to watch it go away from her.
It was then that Putintseva was booed from all sides as she caught the third ball without greeting the ball girl.
Putintseva then attempted to grab one of the balls she had previously ignored, as the ball girl had her arms outstretched.
There was no acknowledgement of the ball girl as Putintseva returned to the baseline, and footage showed the ball girl returning to her post with a wry smile and shaking her head at what had just happened.
Putintseva said she is trying to organise “something special” for the ball girl involved.
Former US Open champion Becker led the criticism, writing on X: “Who does Putintseva think she is?… terrible behaviour towards ball girl.”
His tweet was in response to one who described it as an “ugly moment” during the match.
Piers Morgan also took to social media, criticising Putintseva’s “disgusting arrogance”.
Putintseva won just two more games after the incident and fifth-seeded Paolini advanced to the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
