Yulia Putintseva, 31 years old and ranked 94th in the WTA, qualified for the round of 16 of the 2026 Australian Open, after going through the third round of the Turkish Zeynep Sonmez (23 years old, 112th WTA), with the score 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3.
The player representing Kazakhstan, but who was born in Russia, was booed immediately after the decisive point, but appeared to feed off the energy of the moment.
As the crowd booed her, Putintseva put her right hand to her ear and the other to her hip, holding the position for a few seconds before walking to the center to greet her opponent. Afterwards, she started dancing on the court despite the whistles, still receiving applause from a section of the spectators.
“Honestly, it was an incredible atmosphere. The fans, look at them, they are very passionate about what they do. It’s great to see that, especially against me, because I love that kind of battle. I’m here, I’m enjoying the moment and I’m happy with the victory. They are the best fans. You know, it’s better to have less supporters, but better support!“said Putintseva, at the end.
“Many times they disrespected me…”
Putintseva felt a hint of disappointment after the fans’ gesture: “I think there were many times when they disrespected me. They were shouting between the first and second service, trying to make me wrong. Then I think it was 4-3, it was a big point, and before I hit my forehand a guy started coughing.
I said to myself ‘Ok, I won’t lose!’. I was ready to give everything, to fight until my last breath. What can I do? Some people are educated in tennis and some, unfortunately, are not. I’m so glad I stayed calm because last year’s Yulia probably would have thrown something at them at some point!”.
“We were singing a song about rabbits!”
Yulia Putintseva also explained, during the press conference, the gesture at the end, the dance on the field, which caused even more heated reactions from the stands: “Honestly, it’s kind of funny, but I was singing a song. It’s a very old Russian song from an old movie. The song is about rabbits. It’s about rabbits eating grass and I was trying to have fun with it. I haven’t seen that movie since my childhood. It’s a very old Russian movie, which I think I last saw when I was 14, and I don’t know why it came to mind.
The song is about rabbits and an island. I was humming this song, I don’t know why. I usually prefer Taylor Swift or The Weeknd, and out of the blue a song about rabbits came to me!”.
