Three years ago, the fiery Yulia Putintseva declared that she was “like a gangster on the court but an angel off it,” one of tennis’s most memorable self-descriptions of all time.
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After defeating Wang Xinyu for the first time in four matches with 6:1, 7:6(5) to reach the third round of the US Open, the number 30 seed thrilled the crowd in Flushing Meadows by expanding her repertoire of Dramatic characters.
“On the court, I have different personalities,” Putintseva said in her on-court interview. “Sometimes I'm a clown, sometimes I'm a gangster. Sometimes I'm doing great and I'm just happy. I'm so emotional and I think people can see when I'm frustrated about something and when I'm enjoying playing.”
“Off the pitch I’m different. I’m an angel. Not always, but that’s what my mother tells me!”
Putintseva's full emotional range was on display throughout the high-scoring, hard-fought match, from furious smashes with her racquet to lawnmower-fist celebrations after pulling off some of her many glorious drop shots. But this year, it was mostly joy. In the last two months, she has claimed victories over world Nos. 1 and 2, defeating Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon and Coco Gauff in Cincinnati. At No. 32, she is just five places off her career high of No. 27.
The 29-year-old is on a roll and determined to wow the New York crowd. She thanked a fan who “kept shouting 'Yulia!'” for helping her get back into the second set and compared the atmosphere to her best run so far at the US Open.
“The year I reached the quarter-finals [2020]it was a Covid year,” Putintseva recalled. “So I had no fans. Now I have some and it's great.”
Putintseva will next face No. 5 seed Jasmine Paolini, who finished 0-0, 30-15, retiring when Karolina Pliskova was forced to retire due to injury after just three points.
