- Maria Sakkari knocked Yulia Putintseva at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany
- After the usual handshake over the net, a back-and-forth argument broke out
- A furious Sakkari even seemed to tell her opponent to act ‘like a human being’
Two seething tennis players broke out into a heated argument after a match on Sunday with one even brutally telling her rival: ‘Nobody likes you!’
Maria Sakkari got the better of Yulia Putintseva in straight sets at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany, winning 7-5 7-6 in the third round.
Despite clearly simmering beneath their calm exteriors, they observed the usual show of respect by clasping hands over the net. However, spectators were then shocked after a back-and-forth 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 Centre Court, but a riposte from Putintseva led Sakkari to follow her to her bench.
CONTENT WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
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.
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 ballgirl 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.’
