Several ATP and WTA stars receive praise for their sportsmanship on the court.
In 2025, world number one Carlos Alcaraz won the ‘Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award’ for the second time in his career.
And last year, Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur won her third consecutive ‘Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award’.
However, while some are recognized for their exemplary sportsmanship, others are criticized for their behavior.
During the latest episode of ‘Nothing Major‘, Steve Johnson and Jack Sock called out one WTA star for her on-court actions.
Steve Johnson and Jack Sock call out Yulia Putintseva for her behavior
The Nothing Major crew were discussing which players deserved to be on the ‘naughty or nice list’ in 2025.
Johnson said that Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva should go on the naughty list.
“It’s Yulia Putintseva, she always seems to be in controversy,” said Johnson.
“She got the staring at the ball kid; you don’t do anything to the ball people.
“Ball kids, ball adults, you’ve got to treat them fully with respect, you can’t dog those people while you’re out on the court. I don’t like that.”
During her third-round defeat at last year’s US Open, Putintseva stood still, seemingly ignoring the ball-kid while she attempted to give her balls.
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Reacting to the incident in 2024, Boris Becker slammed Putintseva on X.
“Who does [Yulia] Putintseva think she is?” asked Becker.
“Terrible behaviour towards the ball girl!”
Johnson’s co-host, Sock, then shared another story about Putintseva and her unsportsmanlike behavior.
“Have you seen her shoelace stunt, by the way?” he asked.
“When she’s losing, she always packs shoelaces, puts them in her bag. Whenever it’s a pivotal time in the match, she’ll slide to the ball and immediately say she ripped the shoelace on her thing.
“It’s a tactic, takes minutes on minutes, changes the shoelace, and the other girl is always freaked out.
“It’s a full thing, naughty.”
Putintseva certainly isn’t in Johnson or Sock’s good books, but did she ever apologise for the incident at the 2024 US Open?
Did Yulia Putintseva apologise for the ball kid incident?
The former world number 20 posted a lengthy apology on Instagram after the tennis world slammed her for her actions in New York.
“It’s kind of scary the way the world can judge someone from just a 3-second video, that someone posts from one side, without seeing the rest of what was really happening,” she said.
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“I was just playing tennis and lost a tough game, which was very close (in my opinion) to turn that match around. After the game (as you can see on a pic) I got very much disappointed and was almost crying, that I didn’t do better.
“At this time the girl was give me the ball, which I didnt even notice or so, because I was deep in my thoughts…
“I was not trying to humiliate her or anyone by not taking this ball that she was given to me. I didn’t do anything disrespectful to anyone at this particular moment.
“I do apologize if this girl thinks that it was something towards her. (And btw her name is Kate, very nice girl, which understood that it was nothing towards her).
“Hope you guys can see it now from the different angle now. I mean, I know that hates gonna hate, and this message is getting way too long, so I am going to stop right here.”
Putintseva apologized for the incident and wanted to move on, but how did she do in 2025?
Yulia Putintseva fell out of the top 50 this year
Only winning five Grand Slam matches across the four tournaments, Putintseva failed to reach the last 16 of a major in 2025.
- Australian Open – Lost in 3R
- French Open – Lost in 3R
- Wimbledon – Lost in 1R
- US Open – Lost in 2R
Those results saw her drop out of the top 50, finishing 2025 ranked 71st.
2025 year-end WTA rankings
| Rank | Name | Country | Points |
| 67th | Olga Danilovic | Serbia | 957 |
| 68th | Viktorija Golubic | Switzerland | 953 |
| 69th | Sonay Kartal | Great Britain | 937 |
| 70th | Donna Vekic | Croatia | 935 |
| 71st | Yulia Putintseva | Kazakhstan | 924 |
| 72nd | Rebecca Sramkova | Slovakia | 914 |
| 73rd | Antonia Ruzic | Croatia | 913 |
| 74th | Francesca Jones | Great Britain | 912 |
| 75th | Anna Bondar | Hungary | 900 |
| 76th | Ons Jabeur | Tunisia | 893 |
Only time will tell if Putintseva can bounce back and avoid more controversies in 2026!
She is likely to return ahead of the Australian Open, which begins on Sunday, January 18.
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