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Maria Sakkari defeated Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva in two tight sets in the first round of the 2025 Bad Homburg Open on Sunday (June 22) to notch her 15th tour-level win of the season. After the match, the two players were embroiled in a contentious moment during the handshake as they exchanged a few choice words.
Sakkari is playing at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany for the second consecutive year, having exited in the first round as the top seed last year. The Greek made amends for her previous early exit at the WTA 250 tournament in fine fashion on Sunday, beating World No. 27 Putintseva 7-5, 7-6(6) in two hours and 26 minutes to advance to the second round.
Following her victory, Maria Sakkari took exception to her older opponent, who walked away promptly after a rather cold handshake at the net. When the World No. 86 aired her grievance by asking the 30-year-old to "treat her like a human being", the latter took offence as she mocked her by taking a bow.
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The 29-year-old was visibly not impressed with Putintseva's gesture, continuing to accost her as the Kazakh began packing her racket bag to leave. A heated argument broke out between the two, which ended with Sakkari telling the 27th-ranked veteran that 'nobody on the WTA Tour liked her'.
Yulia Putintseva made light of Maria Sakkari's complaints as she walked off the court. However, she tried to have the last laugh over the former World No. 3, mimicking a 'crying' action in what was a shot at her opponent.
Maria Sakkari is looking to improve her WTA ranking with favourable results in the grass season
Maria Sakkari has lost two of her three competitive outings during this year's grasscourt swing thus far. While the Greek did reach the second round at the Libema Open earlier this month, she exited the Berlin Tennis Open in the first qualifying round.
Sakkari will be hopeful of a good result at this week's Bad Homburg Open, which is the final tune-up event to next month's Wimbledon. The 29-year-old will be eager to make it to the second week of the grasscourt Major, having fallen at the third-round hurdle on four occasions (2017, 2019, 2022, and 2024). Recording a deep showing at SW19 will also bode well for her singles ranking, considering she recently fell outside the WTA top 30 rankings for the first time since 2018.
