Tennis player Yulia Putintseva faced the outrage of fans after displaying highly disrespectful behavior toward a ball girl.
Ball kids, responsible for collecting and distributing tennis balls, often come under discussion because they have clear instructions to operate in a mechanical manner—a practice considered outdated, given the nature of tennis as a sport.
Ugly moment in the Putintseva vs Paolini match at the US Open.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 1, 2024
The ball girl tries tossing the ball and Yulia watches it bounce on the ground without moving.
So many ball kids look up to these athletes. Let's try to treat them kinder.
(via @MerThomp)pic.twitter.com/WaVzNcbb6R
Naturally, the public watching tends to be more sensitive to these kids, especially when they are subjected to such rude behavior as exhibited by the Russian player.
As seen in the video, while the girl does everything she is supposed to do to hand the balls to the player, Putintseva lets the balls hit her before finally catching the last one, all while the crowd begins to express their discontent and boo her.
Watch the video of Putintseva and the ball girl at the US Open:
After facing backlash both from the crowd and online users, Putintseva sought to apologize for her actions, claiming she was lost in her thoughts. However, her explanation is unconvincing, as the video shows her motioning with her hand to receive the balls.
“I want to apologize to the girl for the way I behaved when she was giving me the balls. Honestly, it wasn’t about her. I was really frustrated with myself for not winning the game from the break point and then I just shut down emotionally and got lost in my thoughts. I wasn’t focused on what was happening around me or who was handing me the ball. All the kids did an amazing job at the Open, as always,” she wrote.
