Tennis Player Apologizes For Controversial Ball Girl Incident At US Open

Kazakhstani Tennis player Yulia Putintseva issued an apology after a controversial incident involving a ball girl at the U.S. Open .

Putintseva, 29, the No. 32 overall player in the official Women's Tennis Rankings, was seen standing on the court and gazing into the distance as the ball girl attempted to give her more balls during her third-round loss to Italian Jasmine Paolini . Putintseva seemed to motion for the ball girl to throw her the tennis balls, but instead let the first two bounce off her before catching the third and picking the other two up, which appeared to leave the girl stunned and resulted in boos from the crowd.

"I want to apologize to the ball girl for the way i was, when she was giving me balls," Putintseva wrote on her Instagram story, which was screenshotted and re-shared by Sports Illustrated . "Honestly speaking it was not about her. I was really pissed at my self by not winning the game from the breakpoint and then got empty with my emotions and deep in my thoughts, that i was not even focusing on whats going on and who gives me the ball... All the ball kids was doing amazing as always at the open."

Paolini defeated Putintseva, 6-3, 6-4, in the third-round, advancing to face Karolina Muchova in the round of 16 on Monday (September 3).