Overview

• Maria Sakkari defeated Yulia Putintseva 7–5, 7–6(6) in the first round at the Bad Homburg Open before confronting her over a loose, no-look handshake.
• Sakkari followed Putintseva to her bench, urged her to “act like a human being” and declared “nobody likes you” as Putintseva responded with sarcastic bows and a profanity-laced retort.
• The exchange, captured on court microphones and aired by Tennis Channel, quickly went viral and reignited debate over sportsmanship and on-court conduct.
• In her post-match interview, Sakkari downplayed the incident, saying she respects Putintseva as a player and is indifferent to any future social reconciliation.
• On Instagram, Putintseva shared clips of Sakkari’s past handshakes with other opponents, accused her rival of hypocrisy and punctuated her rebuttal with a clown emoji.