Yulia Putintseva had a really bizarre moment with a ball girl during her match against Jasmine Paolini at the 2024 US Open when she didn't react as she was being given tennis balls.
It was a really tense third-round match between Putintseva and Paolini, who reached back-to-back major finals in 2024, and it wasn't going well for the Kazakhstani player. She was clearly frustrated by what was happening on the court as she was losing, which translated into a bizarre situation with a ball girl.
It was late in the second set, and Putintseva was already down a set and a break and failed to break back. Ahead of the next rally, she was simply standing there waiting for the tennis balls.
When she was given them by the ball girl, she didn't react. A ball girl collected the tennis balls and turned around to the player to hand the balls to her.
Generally, the ball kids toss the tennis balls to players, but sometimes, they even place them directly on their racket. There are no formal rules, but the usual way is for the kids to toss them to the players.
The ball girl tried to do that, but Putintseva didn’t react and just kept staring at the ball girl. She let two balls bounce away from her before catching the third and then collecting the balls from the floor.
It was a very bizarre sequence that created a lot of chatter on social media and also an immediate reaction from the fans, who booed the player. Plenty of ball kids tend to grow up to be players, and they look up to these players, so such treatment from players is certainly not warranted.
On the other hand, players are also humans and allow moments of frustration, but this was just a bizarre and disrespectful moment. Plenty of tennis fans reacted on social media, expressing disappointment after a video of the incident surfaced.
Putintseva, to her credit, reacted quickly and issued an apology on social media, saying she was mostly angry about herself and didn't want to project her frustration on the ball girl.
"I want to apologize to her for the way I was when she was giving me the balls. Honestly speaking it was not about her. I was really p***ed at myself by not winning the game from the breakpoint and then got (so) empty with my emotions and deep in my thoughts that I was not focusing on what’s going on and who gives me the ball. All the ball kids were doing amazing as always at the US Open."
It was certainly great to see Putintseva apologize for the situation because it was certainly not a great look for her. Players express frustration in different ways, and this was the option that Putintseva chose.
Hopefully, for her and everyone involved, things like this won’t happen again. It certainly didn't help Putintseva to turn the match around, as she lost in two sets, 3-6, 4-6.