THE tennis star involved in a fiery on-court row has taken her war of words onto social media.
Maria Sakkari beat Yulia Putintseva 7-5 7-6 in the first round of the Bad Homburg Open in Germany yesterday.
Tempers flared when the pair shook hands at the end of the match as both fired insults at each other.
Sakkari told Putintseva to “act like a human being” and that “nobody likes you”.
She also slammed her for the lack of eye contact during their frosty hand shake.
Putintseva responded by sarcastically curtsying in front of Sakkari and then reportedly telling her to go “go f*** herself”.
The Kazakh has now taken to social media to speak out about the feud.
She wrote on Instagram: “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.”
She then re-posted two snaps of Sakkari not looking at Martina Trevisan and Emma Raducanu during old hand shakes.
Putintseva captioned these images “and the plot thickens” alongside a clown emoji.
Asked for her take on the drama, Sakkari said in a post-match interview: “I don’t think she’s going to invite me for dinner for the rest of our lives.
“But I don’t care to be honest. I have very good friends.”
Sakkari is a former world No3 and she made the semi-finals of both the French Open and US Open in 2021.
Putintseva is no stranger to controversy after a bizarre tantrum towards a ball girl at a major in 2024.
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