Yulia Putintseva apologizes for ball girl controversy at US Open

The third round of the US Open on Saturday was not without controversy among the women. In particular, Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva came under criticism for her behavior towards a ball girl during her match against Italian Jasmine Paolini.

While losing to Paolini, Putintseva was seen standing on the court, looking off into the distance, while a US Open ball girl attempted to feed her tennis balls. It appears that Putintseva signaled the ball girl to throw the tennis balls to her, but simply let the first two bounce off her before catching the third and picking up the other two. The ball girl seemed stunned by the scene. The crowd interpreted this as disrespect from Putintseva and booed her.

Putintseva eventually lost 6:3, 6:4 to the Italian. A few hours later, she publicly apologized for the incident on her Instagram page.

“I want to apologize to the ball girl for my behavior when she gave me the balls,” Putintseva wrote on her Instagram stories (screenshot below). “Honestly, it wasn't about her. I was really mad at myself for not being able to win the match from the break point and then I was emotionally empty and deep in thought so I didn't even focus on what was going on and who was giving me the ball… All the ball girls did great as always at the Open.”

With her elimination, Putintseva is out of the US Open. Paolini will play against Karolina Muchova in the round of 16 on Monday.