The incident occurred when the ball lady tossed a ball to Putintseva, however as a substitute of catching it, the Kazakh participant let it bounce on the bottom with out making any try and retrieve it.
The awkward alternate led to a short pause within the match and left spectators questioning the sportsmanship displayed.
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Putintseva later addressed the state of affairs, providing an apology for her behaviour.
She defined that her actions weren’t directed on the ball lady, however fairly a results of her personal frustration on the court docket.
“I need to apologize to the ball lady for the best way I used to be when she was giving me balls. Actually talking, it was not about her. I used to be actually pissed at myself for not successful the sport from the breakpoint after which obtained empty with my feelings and deep in my ideas, that I used to be not even specializing in what was occurring and who provides me the ball,” Putintseva wrote in an announcement.
She additionally praised the ball children, noting that they had been “wonderful as at all times on the Open.”
Regardless of the incident, the match went on, and Paolini superior to the fourth spherical with a stable 6-3, 6-Four victory over Putintseva. The Italian participant, seeded fifth, continues her spectacular run in 2024, having reached a minimum of the fourth spherical at each Grand Slam this yr.
Paolini’s victory at Louis Armstrong Stadium marks her first time making it to Week 2 of the US Open, additional solidifying her standing as a rising star in girls’s tennis.
