Putintseva sings rabbit song to shut out 'disrespectful' fans / Photo: IZHAR KHAN - AFP
Putintseva sings rabbit song to shut out 'disrespectful' fans
Yulia Putintseva hit out Friday at "disrespectful" fans during her Australian Open clash with Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez and said she only kept her cool by singing a song about rabbits.
The unseeded Kazakh came through the drama 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3 but had to put up with fans screaming and coughing at crunch moments.
At the end of the match in Melbourne she was booed during her entire on-court interview.
"Today I think was really a lot of disrespectful moments when they were screaming between my first and second serve. Like really loud, like just to make me make a mistake," she told reporters later.
"In the game, I think it was 4-3, was a big point, and I opened the court very good. I take my forehand, the guy just started coughing just for my shot.
"I'm very happy that I kept my calm because Yulia last year would probably throw something at them."
After reaching her first Australian Open fourth round, 31-year-old Putintseva turned to the vocal crowd and placed her hand to her ear, a gesture that immediately drew a chorus of boos.
Undeterred, she began dancing before enduring more whistles and jeering during her on-court interview.
Moscow-born Putintseva said she shut out the noise by singing a Russian song.
"It is very old-school, from old, old movies. The song is about rabbits," she said.
"It has nothing to do with anything. It's just about rabbits who eat the grass. I was like distracting myself with this.
"I haven't seen this movie since my childhood," she added. "I think I watched it last time when I was 14.
"I was just singing the song in my head, and I didn't know why. Usually I like Taylor Swift, and, I don't know, The Weeknd, and here it comes like a rabbit song."
馬-J.Mǎ--THT-士蔑報
