Yulia Putintseva apologized after humiliating a server girl at the US Open
Kazakhstani tennis player Yulia Putintseva has apologized after receiving criticism for her treatment of a server girl at the US Open.
A short video posted on social media showed the 29-year-old Yulia Putintseva ignoring a girl who handed her three balls during her 0-2 (3:6, 4:6) loss to Jasmine Paolini (Italy) in the third round at Flushing Meadows on Saturday. The footage was also shared by the former German star and six-time Grand Slam tennis champion Boris Becker, who commented on the situation with the words: “Who is Yulia Putintseva thinking about…terrible treatment of the girl serving balls”.
The tennis player explained the incident in a post on Instagram, stressing that she was disappointed after missing the chance to take advantage of two break points in the second set and did not mean to offend or hurt anyone.
“Its kind of scary the way world can judge someone from just a 3 second video, that someone post from one side, without seeing the rest on what was really happening. I was just playing tennis and lost a tough game, which was very close (in my opinion) to turn that match around. 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 give me the ball, which I didn’t even notice or so, because i was deep in my thoughts”, wrote Yulia Putintseva. “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. 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. Guilty for that. But I did 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 hates gonna hate and this message is getting way to long, so I am going to stop right here. And last thing, since Kate is already involved in this mess, I am trying to make something special for her”, finished her post.
