Tennis Players Exchange Very Personal Trash Talk After Unsatisfactory Handshake

Stephen Douglas | Jun 23, 2025

Yulia Putintseva curtsies for Maria Sakkari after a bad handshake. / @TennisChanne

Maria Sakkari beat Yulia Putintseva in the first round of the Bad Homburg Open in Germany on Sunday. When the match ended, Sakkari and Putintseva met at the net for the customary handshake, but Sakkari didn't like Putintseva's attitude and let her know about it.

Putintseva responded with one of the more sarcastic curtsies you will ever see, which prompted Sakkari to tell her to just look at her "like a human being" during the handshake. From there the two continued to exchange words with Sakkari following Putintseva to her bench multiple times to ask her to repeat things.

Maria Sakkari and Yulia Putintseva got heated during their handshake in Bad Homburg 😳

Watch the full clip here and read more from @Tennis below 👇 https://t.co/Xi8KegqHOu pic.twitter.com/wvS84NILKu

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) June 22, 2025

The high—or low—point of the exchange was Sakkari telling Putintseva multiple times that "nobody likes you" while the chair umpire pleaded for them to knock it off by saying, "Ladies, please."

They continued to go back and forth as Putintseva left the court while Sakkari pointed towards the door.

Sakkari will continue her tournament on Wednesday against Ekaterina Alexandrova.

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