Tennis stars Maria Sakkari and Yulia Putintseva involved in heated handshake: ‘Nobody likes you’

Tennis star Maria Sakkari has claimed “nobody likes” rival Yulia Putintseva during a heated exchange after their first-round clash at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany.

Sakkari won the clash in straight sets 7-5 7-6, but the simmering tensions exploded at the net when they shook hands.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Sakkari and Putintseva get heated during exchange.

Sakkari, who reached as high as No.3 in the world, appeared to take exception to Putintseva’s loose handshake where she only briefly looked at her opponent and gave more of a high five, rather than a shake.

The initial words spoken were unclear but Putintseva responded by performing a sarcastic bow in Sakkari’s direction.

The Greek star can then be heard saying, “just be like a human being” to which Putintseva responded that she had.

As Putintseva went back to her bench, she said something else that wasn’t entirely audible, but sounded like “go f*** yourself”, to which Sakkari approached her rival and asked, “what did you say?”

Sakkari then walked away only to turn back again and clearly say “nobody likes you”.

She then gestured to her opponent to look her in the eyes when they shake hands.

The chair umpire could be heard saying “ladies, please” as the argument eventually dissipated.

The exchange quickly went viral on social media with viewers stunned the incident.

“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,” Sakkari said in her on-court interview.

“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 play either Belinda Bencic or eighth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the next round.

Last year, Putintseva was booed by the US Open crowd for her behaviour towards a ball kid.

She blatantly ignored the young girl and just stared as balls bounced past her without moving.

She issued multiple apologies for her actions and even offered another angle of the incident that showed her staring at the ground, rather than in the direction of the ball kid.

Wimbledon champ back in the groove

Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova has beaten Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu to win the Berlin Open title, completing an improbable run to her first trophy since her London triumph two years ago.

The 25-year-old Czech, who had dropped to 164th in the world after an injury-plagued 12 months, was playing her first final since winning her lone grand slam at Wimbledon in 2023.

She was made to work hard for a 7-6 (12-10) 4-6 6-2 victory and even had to save six set points in the tight first-set tiebreak.

But her win represents perfect timing, coming a week before the start of Wimbledon where the 25-year-old will now again be a force to be reckoned with.

Wang, who had to battle through the qualifying process and then beat four top-20 players to reach her first-ever tour final, kept causing problems with her pinpoint accuracy as she fired repeated baseline winners.

The Czech’s serve looked unbreakable until Wang earned her first break point in the seventh game, breaking Vondrousova who slipped and hurt her ankle on that point.

But the Czech came back to snatch the tie-break after the 23-year-old Wang had wasted six set points.

Wang showed few nerves in her maiden singles tour final and levelled after breaking her opponent once in the second set.

But Vondrousova, who beat Australian Open champion Madison Keys in the first round and world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals in Berlin, raced back with two breaks of her own to go 4-1 up in the decider.

She then played a perfect service game at 5-2, with a superb dropshot, a crosscourt backhand winner and a powerful forehand that forced an error by Wang on match point number one, sealing her third career title.

In the Nottingham Open final, American McCartney Kessler lifted her third WTA Tour title, completing her perfect Wimbledon warm-up by beating Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska 6-4 6-4 in showery conditions in the English city.

The 25-year-old, who ousted top seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first round and also knocked out Britain’s defending champ Katie Boulter, overcame two interruptions for rain, including a second delay for over an hour and a half, before triumphing.

Ukrainian Yastremska lost her second final of the year but knows there is a bigger picture, due to the ongoing conflict in her home country.

“It’s been a tough week with what was going on in Ukraine so I have had to deal with a lot of things this week,” she said.

“I want to say I am proud of myself, I am improving some things I am working on. Not the win, but I hope soon, it’s day-by-day.”

- with AAP