“She always hated me,” Yulia Putintseva recalls online feud with Rennae Stubbs about mice saga | Exclusive
Yulia Putintseva claimed Rennae Stubbs hates her as she recalls online beef with her before the 2021 Australian Open.
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Rennae Stubbs, Yulia Putintseva (Images via X)
Yulia Putintseva complained on social media about mice in her hotel room when she was forced to go into isolation for 14 days in Melbourne during the pandemic ahead of the 2021 Australian Open. As mice appeared in her hotel room, she spent hours trying to relocate to another room. That didn’t help at all as she spotted more mice in her next room.
She was denied a third room and once again she took to social media to complain about it. In another post, she shared a picture of herself holding a sign that read, ‘We need fresh air to breathe’. Former doubles player Rennae Stubbs, however, downplayed her concerns, and this started a war of words on social media.
Putintseva in response, shared a video of the mice in her room but Stubbs said she called Putintseva out because of her complaints about not getting fresh air. The 29-year-old recalled that incident and her online feud with Serena Williams‘ former coach, who in 2024 was one of the high-profile names in tennis, to call out Putintseva for her controversial behavior toward a ball kid at the US Open.
I remember she always hated me, so I have to remember. I’m guessing I did not hate it, but she don’t like me. That’s obvious. I don’t know why, but I mean, it’s her problem. She has less of a special person around her.
Yulia Putintseva said on the Fantastic Tennis Podcast by FirstSportz
When asked in the podcast whether that was her grossest hotel experience, Putintseva couldn’t agree more. The WTA ace however questioned why she troubled herself back then to change rooms knowing that mice would be everywhere.
But I don’t know the reason of changing the room. If there is one in one room, the mouse is you think if I am changing next door, it’s not going to come there. I mean, it’s for me was like zero logic, but I said, okay.
Yulia Putintseva said
The pandemic was the weirdest time for Putintseva as the atmosphere was very quiet during matches, and she claimed it felt like practice sessions.
Yulia Putintseva slams critics for questioning her behavior at the 2024 US Open
Yulia Putintseva experienced ups and downs in 2024, and there were some moments that extremely frustrated her. One of which was the incident with the ball-kid at the US Open.
Putintseva’s clip involving a ball girl during her third-round clash with Jasmine Paolini sparked massive outrage in the tennis community. Putintseva, in the second set, apparently paid no heed to the balls the ball kid had been giving her.
The ball kid was surprised when Putintseva let the first two balls bounce off her. The crowd started to boo Putintseva, perceiving her action as disrespectful toward the ball kid.
The Kazakh player later apologized to her on Instagram, explaining how she was angry at herself for not winning a game from the breakpoint and was not at all focusing on what was going on around her. In the podcast, Putintseva slammed her critics for misjudging her.
They’re already judging you. Like, look what happened in the US Open. Like out of five seconds of video, they thought that I’m a hater of kids. Like, I don’t know what the…whatever it is. Five seconds. Why should I care about those people who make opinion on the other people about five-second video?
Yulia Putintseva said
Listen to full podcast below:
Putintseva however admitted that the incident affected her because of the hateful messages she had been receiving. If she felt it was her fault, she would have endured a difficult time. She got much-needed support from her team, her friends her family, who urged her to forget about it and focus on her next goals.
Honestly, it was like tough because every time I was passing social media, I was getting like all those hateful messages, which I usually do get, but the amount was like huge. But the thing that helped me was that I was feeling 100% that I’m not guilty in this case.
Yulia Putintseva added
Putintseva has always given ‘zero fu*ks’ to what people think about her. The mindset of simply blocking the frustrating things has helped her perform better in some matches, one of which was against Martina Trevisan in the first round of the Italian Open. The loud cheers for the home favorite did not force Putintseva to crumble as she came out on top in straight sets.
Putintseva is also not afraid of playing those who allow their emotions to get the better of them. She doesn’t get bothered by how her opponents behave during matches. The crowd as well doesn’t affect her. In short, she simply doesn’t care.
No, I like the crowd, but I don’t care about the other side what’s happening there, honestly, not my thing.
Yulia Putintseva said
Putintseva at the end of the day is a human being. Though she claimed she doesn’t pay heed to criticism, she still questions herself.
The World No. 29 was 39-22 in 2024 and lifted just the Birmingham Classic. She has now geared up for the 2025 Birmingham Open, where on December 31, she will be facing McCartney Kessler.
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