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Tennis brat's shocking act of disrespect to Australian Open crowd

Yulia Putintseva has been branded an ‘absolute disgrace’ over her actions towards spectators as she crashed out of the Australian Open.

The Kazakh tennis player continues to cause a stir in the tennis world, producing a shocking act of disrespect to the Melbourne Park crowd on Wednesday.

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Putintseva went down to Belinda Bencic in their second round clash, with Bencic prevailing 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

Yulia Putintseva in action. (Photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
Yulia Putintseva in action. (Photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

But Putintseva’s antics after the match stole the show.

The 24-year-old is known for her lame attempts to shake hands with opponents after matches, producing another limp effort for Bencic and the chair umpire as she left the court.

But her finest effort came as she was making her way to the locker room.

Clearly riled by her treatment from the crowd, Putintseva wagged her finger in disgust at spectators, before producing a big middle-finger salute as she disappeared.

And the gesture certainly didn’t go unnoticed.

No stranger to controversy

It’s just the latest controversy surrounding the young Kazakh.

After she won her first-round clash with Barbora Strycova on Monday, she shared a typically fiery moment with her opponent at the net.

Strycova recoiled in pain after Putintseva went in too overzealous for the handshake.

Strycova exchanged some words with Putintseva before they both made their way off court.

“I like to squeeze hand normal, but she squeezed me, like, hardcore! These bones — oww! Oww!” Strycova said.

Putintseva has drawn criticism in the past for being a sore loser, producing a number of lame attempts to shake hands with opponents and umpires after a match.

She was also slammed at last year’s Australian Open when she refused to shake hands with an umpire after a loss.