US Open fans erupted into a chorus of boos at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Saturday after Yulia Putinseva’s bizarre interaction with a ball girl. The 30th seed grew increasingly frustrated as a third-round showdown with Jasmine Paolini slipped away from her.
With Putinseva losing the first set and going 4-2 down in the second, she stared at the ball girl blankly with her arms down by her side when offered new balls.
A half-hearted signal then came for the ball girl to throw, but instead of catching, Putinseva let it hit her in the torso and bounce away. Another signal was made for the second ball, which bounced onto Putinseva’s foot after she refused to catch it.
By this point, with the ball girl put in an uncomfortable situation and the crowd beginning to process Putinseva’s strange behaviour, loud boos rang out. A third ball was thrown, which the Kazakh competitor reluctantly caught before picking one of the earlier balls off the ground.
There was no acknowledgement towards the ball girl as Putinseva returned to the baseline for her next point. Footage showed the ball girl returning to her station with a wry smile and a shake of the head in disbelief.
Putinseva would go on to win two more games, but fifth seed Paolini powered through to the fourth round with a convincing 6-3 6-4 victory.
Next up for Paolini is Karolina Muchova – the player US Open commentator Chris Evert said ‘plays like a guy’, which sparked criticism from the likes of Ons Jabeur and Nick Kyrgios. Muchova is yet to drop a set at Flushing Meadows this year, beating Naomi Osaka and Anastasia Popatova en route to the fourth round.
“I’m a fan of her,” said Paolini. “She’s playing unbelievably well. I really love how she plays. She can play every shot; slice, volleys and serve. She’s a very complete player, I think, very tough opponent. I hope we can play a really, really good match.
“She’s serving better than me. She’s taller, so it’s easier for her. She has a little bit of a different game to mine because I think she has more variety. I cannot slice as much as her.
“I don’t know what to expect. I think I played last time here against her in the qualifying in the second round in 2018 or 2019. So a long time ago.”
