Bad blood in Bad Homburg as Sakkari, Putintseva involved in testy exchange

Bad blood spilled over in Bad Homburg on Sunday when Greece’s Maria Sakkari and Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva were involved in a centre-court confrontation after their first-round encounter.

Sakkari emerged with a 7-5, 7-6(6) victory in the Wimbledon tune-up event in Germany but appeared less than pleased with Putintseva’s handshake at the net.

“When you shake hands with someone, look them in the eyes,” Sakkari said in comments picked up by the court microphone.

Putintseva responded with an exaggerated curtsy, with Sakkari then telling the Kazakh: “just be like a human being”.

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The duo continued to exchange barbs as Putintseva left for the changing rooms, and world number 85 Sakkari told an on-court interviewer there was no love lost between the pair.

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

“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.”

Sakkari will next meet either Ekaterina Alexandrova or Belinda Bencic as she continues her preparations for Wimbledon, which begins on June 30.