Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva has apologized after coming under fire for her “horrible behaviour” towards a ball girl at the US Open.
The 29-year-old was booed by the crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York for an apparent snub to a ball girl on her way to losing in the third round to Italy’s Jasmine Paolini.
Footage shows Putintseva being thrown three balls before her next serve, which she ignores and stares motionless at the girl.
The ball girl appeared to be in an awkward position until Putintseva finally picked up one of the balls and continued playing.
But angry audiences turned on Putintseva, and tennis commentators around the world also expressed surprise at her behaviour.
Former US Open champion Boris Becker wrote that she missed two break points in the second set.
In a social media post, Putintseva wrote: “I want to apologize for my behavior when the ball girl gave me the ball.
“To be honest, it wasn’t about her. I was really angry at myself for not winning the match from a break point and after that I felt emotionally empty and lost in thought and couldn’t even concentrate on what was going on or who gave me the ball….
“All the ball boys performed great as always at the Open.”
Putintseva was hoping to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career but lost 6:3, 6:4 against the fifth seed.