Tennis brat's shocking act of disrespect to Australian Open crowd
Yulia Putintseva has been branded an ‘absolute disgrace’ over her actions towards spectators as she crashed out of the Australian Open.
The Kazakh tennis player continues to cause a stir in the tennis world, producing a shocking act of disrespect to the Melbourne Park crowd on Wednesday.
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Putintseva went down to Belinda Bencic in their second round clash, with Bencic prevailing 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.
But Putintseva’s antics after the match stole the show.
The 24-year-old is known for her lame attempts to shake hands with opponents after matches, producing another limp effort for Bencic and the chair umpire as she left the court.
Putintseva gave Bencic a better handshake than to the umpire 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/Lp5RQOOV0y
— LorenaPopa🕵️♀️ 🏆🥖👑 (@popalorena) January 16, 2019
But her finest effort came as she was making her way to the locker room.
Clearly riled by her treatment from the crowd, Putintseva wagged her finger in disgust at spectators, before producing a big middle-finger salute as she disappeared.
Wow! Yulia Putintseva giving the finger has she walked off court!#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/Hz1v0O2dk3
— Philip T Boosey (@PhilipTBoosey) January 16, 2019
Até onde o dedo médio deixar. https://t.co/L75iFLFIDq
— Bola Amarela (@Bola_Amarela) January 16, 2019
Putintseva looks dissappointed about the crowd 😂 pic.twitter.com/h4pU3PNnH5
— LorenaPopa🕵️♀️ 🏆🥖👑 (@popalorena) January 16, 2019
And the gesture certainly didn’t go unnoticed.
Middle finger from PUTINTSEVA to the crowd OMG she's crazy 😂 pic.twitter.com/6FLC4J8NPn
— LorenaPopa🕵️♀️ 🏆🥖👑 (@popalorena) January 16, 2019
Putintseva just gave a finger and then a double finger to the crowd as she walked past me out of the court 🖕🏻🖕🏻😂😂😂
— Peta 🎾 (@PetaPan17) January 16, 2019
Putintseva should be ASHAMED of herself. And anyone who supports her or this behavior should be ashamed of themselves. She is an absolute disgrace to tennis and these actions shouldn’t be modeled. The crowd wasn’t even that bad. I will never respect her. 😒 pic.twitter.com/g8Riu3RRmQ
— CaroWozniackiFans (@CaroWozFans) January 16, 2019
After THAT handshake in R1, Putintseva is not letting up in the bad loser award in R2 😬 https://t.co/TTDU0j6wpF
— The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast (@passingshotpod) January 16, 2019
99% sure I just saw a 🖕lol
There really is only one Yulia Putintseva #aoopen @BenRothenberg pic.twitter.com/oi8pKEN8D6— Luke Mayes (@lukemayes8) January 16, 2019
Did Putintseva 🖕🏽the crowd? #ausopen
— श्रेया (@KitabChor) January 16, 2019
No stranger to controversy
It’s just the latest controversy surrounding the young Kazakh.
After she won her first-round clash with Barbora Strycova on Monday, she shared a typically fiery moment with her opponent at the net.
Strycova recoiled in pain after Putintseva went in too overzealous for the handshake.
I KNEW STRYCOVA AND PUTINTSEVA WON'T DISSAPPOINT ME! HANDSHAKE OF THE YEAR pic.twitter.com/hCo1PHmGnS
— LorenaPopa🕵️♀️ 🏆🥖👑 (@popalorena) January 14, 2019
Strycova exchanged some words with Putintseva before they both made their way off court.
“I like to squeeze hand normal, but she squeezed me, like, hardcore! These bones — oww! Oww!” Strycova said.
Putintseva has drawn criticism in the past for being a sore loser, producing a number of lame attempts to shake hands with opponents and umpires after a match.
Putintseva-Linette handshake: (via cyclo on tennis forum) pic.twitter.com/BlbmS6JNja
— . (@returnofserve) April 4, 2017
Blink and you will miss the "handshake". 😂#putintseva #niculescu #miamiopen pic.twitter.com/zLWmtuOzWu
— Ashish TV 🎾🎥 (@Ashish__TV) March 21, 2018
She was also slammed at last year’s Australian Open when she refused to shake hands with an umpire after a loss.
