The opening day of the Bad Homburg Open in Germany saw a heated exchange between former World No. 3 Greece’s Maria Sakkari and Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva after their first-round match.
The war of words started after Sakkari beat Putintseva, 7-5, 7-6(6), for just her third Top 30 this season and went for a handshake when the Kazakh avoided eye contact and left the playing court before muttering something that riled up the Greek.
A frustrated Sakkari said, “Just be like a human being…. When you shake hands with someone, look them in the eyes.”
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Putintseva, who was in no mood to linger for any post-match pleasantries after a tough tie which lasted for two hours and 25 minutes, said, “I was a human being, look at yourself.” This prompted Sakkari to engage with her once again.
Putintseva responded angrily, allegedly swearing “Go f*** yourself” and gesturing at Sakkari to leave. Sakkari followed Putintseva to her bench and was overheard saying, “Nobody likes you.”
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Maria Sakkari and Yulia Putintseva got heated during their handshake in Bad Homburg 😳
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The chair umpire had to intervene as the heated exchange continued, with the Greek insisting opponents should make eye contact during handshakes. Putintseva responded again with a sarcastic bow.
Sakkari addressed the incident in her on-court interview after the win. “I don’t think she’s going to invite me for dinner for the rest of our lives, but I don’t care, to be honest,” Sakkari said. “I have very good friends and I’ll go to dinner with them. Let me leave it here, and just say that I have respect for her as a player, but that’s it.”
Sakkari, a wildcard entry at this WTA 500 event ranked World No. 86, will face the winner of Ekaterina Alexandrova vs Belinda Bencic in the Round of 16.
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