Yulia Putintseva found herself back in the news at the weekend after she was involved in an x-rated handshake row with opponent Maria Sakkari on Sunday.
The two stars clashed after their third round match at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany, which Sakkari won 7-5, 7-6.
Having shaken hands at the net, the pair then fired insults at each other during an argument, including Sakkari telling her Kazakhstani opponent that ‘nobody likes you’.
The argument left fans debating the incident over who was in the right, but on Monday, Putintseva then hit back and aimed her own dig at Sakkari on social media.
To some, they may never heard of Putintseva until recent days, but the 30-year-old, who is ranked at world No 34, she has a lengthy rap sheet.
Born in Moscow, she moved to Paris in her teens to follow her tennis journey and now resides in Florida .
Yulia Putintseva has broken her silence after her x-rated handshake row with Maria Sakkari
Sakkari and Putintseva were involved in a heated row at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany
Sakkari appeared to have taken exception to Putintseva’s handshake over the top of the net
Although she was born in Russia, she switched to represent Kazakhstan in 2012 after she reportedly was receiving financial and technical support from the Kazakh Tennis Federation.
Despite her clear talent, which will see her in action at Wimbledon this year after qualifying for the tournament for the third time, Putintseva has never been far away from controversy.
This was clear for all to see on Sunday when she classed with Sakkari following their heated game.
Despite clearly simmering beneath their calm exteriors, both Sakkari and Putintseva initially observed the usual show of respect by clasping hands over the net.
But, spectators were then shocked after a row began, seemingly over the brief and loose handshake.
Wild card Sakkari appeared to be especially unhappy and was heard telling her opponent to act ‘like a human being’, to which Putintseva insisted she had.
But the hot-headed Kazakhstani then upped the stakes as she appeared to tell Sakkari to ‘go f***’ herself and to leave her alone, gesturing for her to move away.
Much of the spat wasn’t audible because of the music being pumped out around the court, but a riposte from Putintseva led Sakkari to follow her to her bench.
Putintseva defended her position on Instagram with a defiant message and hit back at Sakkari
Putintseva also shared a post which aimed a dig at Sakkari and called her opponent a clown
Sakkari eventually walked away but returned again just seconds later, appearing to say, ‘F****** hell, I’m what?’ She then clearly told Putintseva: ‘Nobody likes you!’
The Greek instructed Putintseva to look into her opponent’s eyes when shaking their hand after a match before the umpire stepped in, saying: ‘Ladies, please.’
Putintseva delivered a sarcastic sweeping bow in Sakkari’s direction, saying ‘thank you very much’, and the argument continued even as she made her way off the court.
On Monday, Putintseva then hit back at Sakkari and appeared to allege that she was a hypocrite.
In a post on her Instagram story, the 30-year-old shared a mirror selfie alongside a message of defiance.
‘By the way – not that I care – I shook her hand as most women do,’ Putintseva said.
‘Clearly not according to the ‘hugging protocol’ some men seem to follow.’
That message also came after she had fired a dig at Sakkari as she shared a video from Instagram account ‘The Tennis Pulse’.
Putintseva was involved in a spat during the US Open last year after ignoring a ball girl’s attempts to throw the balls towards her, letting them hit her and bounce away
Putintseva did not acknowledge the ball girl as she eventually caught the third ball
The post was a clip of Sakkari clashing with Putintseva at the net where the Greek star could be heard saying: ‘When you shake hands look at the other person in the eye.’
The video then switched to a screengrab of Sakkari shaking hands at the net with Emma Raducanu and Martina Trevisan after separate defeats.
However, in both instances, Sakkari’s head was turned away from her opponent and she wasn’t ‘looking at the other person in the eye’.
Alongside the video, Putintseva added: ‘And the plot thickens…’, accompanied by a clown emoji.
Last year, Putintseva, 30, was involved in another ugly moment during her defeat to Jasmine Paolini at the US Open, leading to her being widely criticised by pundits.
Footage showed two balls being thrown towards Putintseva ahead of her next serve, but she ignored them and stared back at the ball girl without moving.
That left the youngster in an awkward position, before Putintseva caught the third ball and resumed the match when she was down 4-2 in the second set.
Putintseva was loudly booed and twice apologised for her ‘terrible behaviour’, insisting she was ‘p***ed’ at herself rather than the ball girl.
‘It’s kind of scary the way the world can judge someone from just a three second video, that someone posts from one side, without seeing the rest on what was really happening,’ she wrote on social media.
‘I was just playing tennis and lost a tough game, which was very close (in my opinion) to turn that match around.
‘After the game (as you can see on a pic) I got very much disappointed and was almost crying, that I didn’t do better.
‘At this time the girl was giving me the ball, which I didn’t even notice or so, because I was deep in my thoughts… I was not trying to humiliate her (or anyone) by not taking this ball that she was giving to me.
‘I didn’t do anything disrespectful to anyone at this particular moment. I do apologise, if this girl thinks that it was something towards her. (And btw her name is Kate, very nice girl, which understood that it was nothing towards her).
‘I can’t say that I am perfect all my career. I am getting angry on court, p***ed, saying stupid stuff and curse like no tomorrow sometimes. Guilty for that. But I did never put myself “on top” of someone. That’s just not me at all.’
The charge sheet doesn’t stop there however, with Sakkari and the innocent ball girl among several figures in the tennis world that Putintseva has clashed with over the years.
All the way back in 2017, she let loose at her own coach Roman Kisliansky after being thrashed 6-0 6-0 by Alize Cornet at the Connecticut Open.
During the match, Putintseva was heard saying: ‘You never applauded me when I won the ball. You chew and watch the f***ing video. Are you moron? (sic)
‘You sit there watching your video about the flat Earth. Take your f***ing grin away.’
When she was 4-0 down in the second set, she also unleashed another epic meltdown as she demolished her racquet.
However, she did later apologise for her actions.
‘Yesterday was hell!,’ she said. ‘Unfortunately there are days in tennis when you can do nothing.
‘I would like to apologise to my coach Roman Kisliansky for what I said! My emotions quite often blind me, but I am working on that and will try to make some conclusions from this game and this situation.’
Those apologies have become a common theme, but Putintseva has previously hinted how her abrasive and chaotic behaviour on the court is just how she is.
‘I knew since I was a kid,’ she told the WTA in 2022. ‘My father would tell me, “Yulia, your temper on the court is too much sometimes”.
‘I was wild, too much fire.’
She added: ‘I’m like a gangster on court, but like an angel off court. (I’m) really different in real life.’
However, in that same interview, she also claimed she was calming down and revealed what she wants to achieve in the game.
‘Now I’m controlling myself more. In important moments I’m calming down. I understand what I have to do.
‘I hope I can win a Grand Slam one day. That’s my goal. That’s what I believe I can do. I’m working for it every day. If I cannot, at least I want to give my best.’
Meanwhile, she has also attracted the ire of fans watching her games on multiple occasions, meaning those in attendance at Wimbledon should be eagle-eyed when she plays.
After losing to Elena Rybakina in the Madrid Open quarter-finals last year, Putintseva launched into a furious racket-smashing tirade, before she was booed off court.
Elsewhere, back in 2019, after a loss to Belinda Bencic at the Australian Open, the Kazakhstani star refused to shake the hand of the umpire.
The crowd weren’t too happy and didn’t react well, which then led to Putintseva astonishingly sticking her middle finger up towards them as she left the court.
It seems Putintseva has an ongoing issue with umpires, including a year later when she declined to shake hands with one after multiple clashes during a defeat to Romania’s Ana Bogdan.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek has also had problems with Putintseva, and previously hit out at her behaviour after a clash at Indian Wells in 2024.
The 30-year-old had been told off by the umpire for moving from side to side when Swiatek was preparing to serve, before she sent down a couple of underarm serves.
‘Maybe they teach that in Kazakhstan,’ Swiatek had said. ‘I can only be responsible for what’s going on with me.
‘I want to keep my standards high no matter what’s going on, and I think this match was a test for my mental training that I did.’
Another superstar Victoria Azarenka has also criticised Putintseva after a chaotic encounter at the 2022 Qatar Open.
During the match, the Kazakhstani had been accused of faking injuries just as the Belarusian was going to serve, while she also smashed multiple rackets and shared a cold post-match handshake.
‘Before my serve, she can do that (call a medical time-out),’ Azarenka said. #What’s the problem? She has to wait for me to serve, she threw her racket like seven times.
‘She needs a mental coach, she needs a psychiatrist. There was way too much stuff in this match. Unnecessary stuff as well.’
Swiatek faced Putintseva at Indian Wells and the Italian Open this year, winning both in straight sets, but the four-time French Open champion was unhappy in the US as a result of her opponent’s movements.
Putintseva was reprimanded by the chair umpire for sliding side to side when Swiatek was preparing to serve, before throwing in a few underarm serves herself.
ictoria Azarenka previously insisting that she “needs a psychiatrist” after their clash in Doha.
During her first-round Qatar Open meeting with Azarenka, Putintseva was accused of cheating by allegedly faking injuries when Azarenka was going to serve. She smashed several rackets during the contest and later shared a visibly cold post-match handshake, prompting Azarenka to wonder what exactly had happened.
Putintseva was up against fellow fire-starter Jelena Ostapenko at the Beijing Open in 2016, a match she won in three sets.
An unforced error from Ostapenko gave Putintseva the win, and she roared aggressively in celebration towards her Latvian opponent, before sending a few balls into the stands for the fans to enjoy.
The celebration drew a side-eye from Ostapenko before the pair shared what was virtually a no-look slap of the hands at the net.
Three years later, at the 2019 Australian Open, Putintseva ousted seeded Czech Barbora Strycova in straight sets, and again erupted after match point.
The exuberant celebration did not sit well with Strycova.
Putintseva again went for the quick handshake while walking off, and was yelled at by Strycova as the pair approached the chair umpire.
Strycova and Putintseva had handshake history leading into this match, with Strycova scolding her opponent in 2014 after not being offered a proper handshake. It appeared Putintseva had decided to over-compensate as a result.
“I like to squeeze hand normal, but she squeezed me, like, hardcore! These bones — oww! Oww!” Strycova said at the time.
“I was like, ‘Why’d you do that?’ She said, ‘You squeezed my hand.’ I said, ‘I squeezed your hand normal! Just let it be.’
“I didn’t really care. It’s nothing big. Just, why?”
Later that year, Putintseva was roundly booed at the Nürnberg Open when she refused to initially shake hands with German opponent Anna-Lena Friedsam after a three-set win.
After match point, Putintseva walked past Friedsam and shook the chair umpire’s hand, only to be chased down by Friedsam.
Eventually, she agreed to shake hands as the chair umpire got involved.
Putintseva has been involved in at least two more frosty handshakes, against Romania’s Monica Niculescu at the 2018 Miami Open, where she again clapped her opponent’s hand before walking off, and against Magda Linette in 2017.
