Yulia Putintseva issues new statement amid ongoing criticism over ball girl incident

Yulia Putintseva has issued another statement defending herself against the criticism and backlash she has received following the US Open incident. She claims that she has gotten to know the ball girl in question and that little Kate has accepted her apology and admitted that she did not mean to be mean or anything like that towards her.

Last week, the Russian tennis star went viral after footage surfaced on social media of her ignoring a ball girl who was throwing balls at her. It happened during a moment of frustration – and the crowd wasn’t happy about it – and immediately started booing the 29-year-old.

Not only did Putintseva receive a fair amount of backlash from fans, she also saw some notable names in the tennis community criticize her over the incident. The biggest name to publicly criticize the three-time WTA champion was Boris Becker, who slammed her actions as “terrible.”

The day after the incident, the world number 32 issued a statement explaining that her action was directed only at herself and not at the ball girl. But it did not stop the criticism and investigation.

“It’s quite scary how the world can judge someone based on just a 3-second video that someone posted from one side, without seeing the rest of what actually happened,” Putintseva wrote in a new post on Instagram.

“I was just playing tennis and lost a difficult match, which (in my opinion) was very close to turning that match around. After the match (as you can see in a picture) I was very disappointed and almost cried, because I didn’t do better. At that moment the girl gave me the ball, which I didn’t even notice or anything, because I was deep in my thoughts…

I wasn’t trying to humiliate her (or anyone else) by not taking this ball she gave me. I didn’t do anything disrespectful to anyone at this point. I apologize if this girl thinks it was something against her. (And by the way, her name is Kate, a very nice girl, who understood that it wasn’t something against her)

“I can’t say I’ve been perfect my whole career. I get angry on court, pissed off, say stupid things and sometimes swear like there’s no tomorrow. Guilty of that. But I’ve never put myself ‘on top’ of anyone. That’s just not who I am at all.

“I hope you guys can see it from a different perspective now. I mean, I know hate is gonna hate and this post is getting way too long, so I’m going to stop here. And lastly, since Kate is already involved in this mess, I’m going to try to make something special for her.”

Putintseva was defeated by some big names

Former six-time Grand Slam champion and world number 1 Becker basically said Putinseva should not behave like that towards a ball boy.

“Who does Putintseva think she is… Horrible behavior towards the ball girl!!!” Becker wrote on X.

Former Spanish tennis star Feliciano Lopez agreed with Becker, responding to the German tennis legend’s post: “Shame on her!!! Humiliating a ball boy is the last thing you do on a tennis court.”

Meanwhile, Serena Williams’ former coach and six-time Grand Slam doubles champion Rannae Stubbs also had some harsh words for the Russian tennis star.

“The disrespect and nasty behavior here is unbelievable and typical of her,” Stubbs wrote on social media.

Putinseva apologized once, but it didn’t work

After losing to Paolini in three sets in the third round of the US Open, the 29-year-old read everything that was said about her, tried to justify herself and put an end to the criticism she was facing.

“I want to apologize to the ball girl for the way I was when she was giving me balls. Honestly, it wasn’t about her. I was really pissed off at myself for not winning the match from break point and then I got empty of my emotions and deep in my thoughts, that I didn’t even focus on what was going on and who was giving me the ball… All the ball boys did an amazing job as always during the Open,” the three-time WTA champion said in a message posted to her Instagram Story over the weekend.

But this message did little to nothing, as Russian surveillance was still closing in. Now Putintseva can hope that her last message will be accepted and that she can move on with her life after the incident.