WATCH: Bizarre scenes at US Open as Yulia Putintseva misbehaves with ball girl in 3R loss to Jasmine Paolini; gets loudly booed by crowd
Yulia Putintseva produced a moment of controversy during her third-round loss to Jasmine Paolini at the ongoing 2024 US Open. The Kazakh's frustrations got the better of her as she blatantly misbehaved with a ball girl.
Putintseva, the 32nd seed at the US Open, suffered a 3-6, 4-6 loss to Italy's Paolini, the 2024 French Open and Wimbledon finalist. The Kazakh created nine break point opportunities throughout the contest, but could convert only two of them. Meanwhile, Paolini converted four out of the six break point opportunities she had engineered of her own.
At one point during the match, as Putintseva was about to serve, a ball girl approached her and tossed balls the Kazakh's way, as is the norm. However, inexplicably, Putintseva didn't catch the balls, instead letting them bounce away. The crowd at the Louis Armstrong Stadium started booing the World No. 32 loudly. The moment was captured on camera by a fan in attendance, and was later shared on X (formerly Twitter).
Watch and listen to the controversial moment unfold below:
Putintseva was in relatively good form coming into the US Open, having ousted the prestigious hardcourt Major's defending champion Coco Gauff from the Cincinnati Open.
This was not the first time the Kazakh misbehaved on the court at a Grand Slam. At the 2019 Australian Open, she offended the crowd with a rude act following an early exit from the Melbourne Major.
Half a decade before US Open 2024, Yulia Putintseva took her frustrations out on the crowd after Australian Open 2R loss
At the 2019 Australian Open, Putintseva stirred controversy with an offensive gesture in the aftermath of her second-round defeat at the hands of Switzerland's Belinda Bencic. The Kazakh shook hands with Bencic but then produced a rather indifferent handshake with chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani.
Putintseva then started making her way out of the court to a ring of boos from the Melbourne crowd. Incensed, the Kazakh gave the crowd an extremely rude middle-finger salute before swiftly heading for the locker room.
Putintseva's third-round US Open loss marked the end of her Grand Slam outings this season. The 29-year-old's best finish came at the Wimbledon Championships, where she reached the fourth round before losing to Jelena Ostapenko.
Meanwhile, Paolini would be hopeful of maintaining her hot streak at Majors. The No. 5 seed is set to face Karolina Muchova in the fourth round for a place in the 2024 US Open quarterfinals.