Yulia Putintseva defends herself over controversial interaction with US Open ball girl as criticism mounts

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Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva continues to apologize amid a wave of backlash for her unsportsmanlike behavior at the U.S. Open, where fans felt the Russian-born tennis player humiliated a ball girl during her third round loss. 

Putintseva, 29, issued a second apology on social media Wednesday as criticism continued to mount over the awkward interaction when she appeared to give the ball girl a cold shoulder during the second set of her 6-3, 6-4 loss to Italy's Jasmine Poalini on Saturday.

Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan reacts during a match against Jasmine Paolini of Italy during the third round of the U.S. Open tennis championships on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024 in New York City. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A visibly frustrated Putintseva stood motionless as the ball girl tossed her two tennis balls, letting each one bounce into her before finally making an attempt to catch the third. 

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Fans deemed the moment disrespectful and humiliating for the girl. Putintseva apologized, saying that she was upset by her performance. 

However, in a second apology, she turned her attention toward her critics and denied doing "anything disrespectful." 

"It's kind of scary the way [the] world can judge someone from just a 3 second video, that someone posts from one side, without seeing the rest [of] what was really happening," she wrote in a post on Instagram. "I was just playing tennis and lost a tough game, which was very close (in my opinion) to turn that match around."

A ball girl runs towards the court on Day 10 of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Sept. 4,