Yulia Putintseva defends herself over controversial interaction with US Open ball girl as criticism mounts

Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva continues to apologize amid a wave of backlash for her unsportsmanlike behavior at the U.S. Open, where fans felt the Russian-born tennis player humiliated a ball girl during her third round loss. 

Putintseva, 29, issued a second apology on social media Wednesday as criticism continued to mount over the awkward interaction when she appeared to give the ball girl a cold shoulder during the second set of her 6-3, 6-4 loss to Italy’s Jasmine Poalini on Saturday.

A visibly frustrated Putintseva stood motionless as the ball girl tossed her two tennis balls, letting each one bounce into her before finally making an attempt to catch the third. 

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Fans deemed the moment disrespectful and humiliating for the girl. Putintseva apologized, saying that she was upset by her performance. 

However, in a second apology, she turned her attention toward her critics and denied doing “anything disrespectful.” 

“It’s kind of scary the way [the] world can judge someone from just a 3 second video, that someone posts from one side, without seeing the rest [of] what was really happening,” she wrote in a post on Instagram. “I was just playing tennis and lost a tough game, which was very close (in my opinion) to turn that match around.”

A ball girl runs towards the court on Day 10 of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Sept. 4, 2024 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)

YULIA PUTINTSEVA SLAMMED FOR HUMILIATING US OPEN BALL GIRL IN AWKWARD INTERACTION

She included two pictures that she says show her emotions at the moment. 

“After the game (as you can see on a pic) I got very much disappointed and was almost crying, that I didn’t do better. At this time the girl was [giving] me the ball, which I didn’t even notice or so, because I was deep in my thoughts…”

“I was not trying to humiliate her (or anyone) by not taking this ball that she was given to me. I didn’t do anything disrespectful to anyone at this particular moment. I do apologize, if this girl thinks that it was something towards her.”

Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan reacts during a match against Jasmine Paolini of Italy during the third round of the U.S. Open tennis championships on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024 in New York City. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

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Putintseva said the girl, who she identified as Kate, was “very nice” and that she was working on doing “something special for her.” She added that she never viewed herself as above anyone. 

“I can’t say that I am perfect all my career. I am getting angry on court, pissed, saying stupid stuff and curse like no tomorrow sometimes,” she continued. “But I never put myself ‘on top’ of someone. That’s just not me at all. Hope you guys can see it now from the different angle now. I mean, I know that [haters] gonna hate…” 

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