Yulia Putintseva Breaks Silence After Maria Sakkari Handshake Controversy At Bad Homburg

Yulia Putintseva and Maria Sakkari engaged in a heated war of words during their opening round match of the Bad Homburg Open on Sunday. It all started during the customary handshake.

In a tightly contested match, Sakkari ended Putintseva’s campaign with a 7-5, 7-6(6) scoreline. Then while shaking hands, Sakkari complained that Putintseva was not looking at her eyes.

When you shake hands with someone, look them in the eyes.

Maria Sakkari told her

After a heated exchange, Sakkari could be heard saying, “Nobody likes you“. Now Putintseva took to Instagram to break her silence on the incident.

By the way, not that I care. I shook her hand as most women do. Clearly not according to the ‘hugging protocol’ some men seem to follow.

Check out her post here:

“Nobody likes you” — bothered? Queen behaviour.

Sassy with attitude. Not trying to make everyone love her. She couldn’t give a fuck what people think of her 👑 #putintseva #sakkari pic.twitter.com/p3gljSPIqU

— Emma Raducant (@EmmaRaducant) June 23, 2025

With this win, Sakkari improved her head-to-head record over the Kazakh ace to 3-1. This was their first meeting on grass and their first clash since the 2020 Western and Southern Open. The lone win that Putintseva clinched was in their first encounter 2016 Japan Open.

Maria Sakkari makes her feelings known about the handshake controversy

Maria Sakkari hasn’t yet responded to Yulia Putintseva’s latest Instagram comments. The 29-year-old, however, hasn’t lost all respect for the three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist.

I don’t think she’s going to invite me for dinner for the rest of our lives, but I don’t care. 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.

Maria Sakkari said during the on-court interview after her win over Yulia Putintseva

Both of them were playing their third grass-court tournament. Putintseva after her third-round defeat at the French Open to two-time WTA 1000 champion Mirra Andreeva, kick-started her campaign on the grass swing at the Queen’s Club Championships.

There Heather Watson knocked her out of the opening round. Then in Nottingham, Rebecca Sramkova defeated her in her second match.

Sakkari, on the other hand, couldn’t go past her first-round opponent Elsa Jacquemot at the French Open. In her first grass-court tournament, the Libema Open, Elise Mertens ended her campaign in her second match. Then at the Berlin Open, the Greek ace failed to qualify for the main draw rounds.

Next, Putintseva will start her preparation for Wimbledon, which starts on June 30. The 30-year-old has never progressed beyond the fourth round of the grass-court Major. Last year, after eliminating the five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek in the third round, Putintseva lost to Jelena Ostapenko in the following round.

Maria Sakkari to play Ekaterina Alexandrova next

Sakkari has scheduled her eighth encounter with Ekaterina Alexandrova after her win over Putintseva. Before reaching the last 16, Alexandrova breezed past Belinda Bencic.

In their seven meetings, Alexandrova could secure a win only one time- back in 2021 at the Kremlin Cup. They will be locking horns for the first time on grass. The upcoming match will also be their first meeting since the 2023 Qatar Open.

Sakkari has not yet reached the fourth round of Wimbledon. Four times she lost in the third round, including in last year’s Wimbledon, which she lost to 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu. Alexandrova had reached the fourth round of the grass-court Major in 2023. She did not play in the event last year because of an injury.

Sakkari is searching for her third singles title in the tournament. She last lifted a trophy at the 2023 Guadalajara Open. Alexandrova is the winner of five singles titles, the last of which she won in this year’s Linz Open.

Also read: Nick Kyrgios Slams BBC for Axing him from Wimbledon Coverage