Tennis
The Russian tennis player was kicked out of the tournament in the United States. Even an apology didn’t help.
Olga Puchkova / Photo: © Scott Barbour / Stringer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
One careless blow resulted in a disqualification.
At the prestigious tournament in the USA, the Russian tennis player started with a sensational victory, but already in the second round, our athlete was kicked out after an ambiguous act. With one blow, the girl dropped the judge from the chair, which she later regretted very much.
Olga’s apology was accepted, but it was not possible to avoid disqualification.
Treacherous Attack
Russian tennis player Olga Puchkova at the WTA tournament in Washington, held in July-August 2013, was not among the favorites, but still managed to shine on the court. In the first round, she outplayed American Sloan Stevens in straight sets, who received the second seed. In the second round, our athlete had to play against the representative of Argentina, Paula Ormaechea.
The match started well for Puchkova: the first set went to the Russian – 6:3. However, the opponent did not want to give up positions at all and already in the second game she returned the debt to the Russian woman, winning with the same score. Olga still had good chances to bring the game to victory: she acted a little better on serves and had an advantage in aces. However, the Russian woman did not manage to take advantage in the third set: our tennis player was losing with a score of 1:4 and with each draw she was moving further and further away from passing to the next round.
In the sixth game Olga was close to victory, leading 40:15, but then there was an unsuccessful rally. The Russian woman got angry and put all her anger into hitting the ball. Unfortunately, he landed right in the knee of the judge on the line, who, after such a treacherous attack, even fell off her chair. Puchkova immediately hurried to apologize, but this could no longer save the situation.
“I believe Puchkova”
“I didn’t look where the ball would fly when I hit it,” Puchkova later justified, her words are quoted by USA Today.
Olga was really extremely uncomfortable for her act. While the arbiter was assisted, the girl stood next to him with a guilty look. The victim, not without help, managed to climb back onto the chair, but still continued to hold on to her leg: the blow turned out to be very sensitive. WTA Supervisor Melanie Tubb believed in the sincerity of the repentance of the Russian tennis player, but still disqualified her!
– I believe Puchkova 100%, she did not want to do this. She didn’t even look in that direction. She just hit the ball in desperation after she missed her moment. However, this is not just intentions, it is the result of her actions. Puchkova hit the judge, and she got bruises, as the blow was very strong, Tubb explained.
Puchkova could only pack up and leave the Washington tournament. Her opponent also stayed in the US capital for a short time, losing in the next round to the future finalist Andrea Petkovic. Olga looked after the disqualification at the US Open, where she lost to the representative of Kazakhstan, Yaroslava Shvedova, almost without a fight. Later, she took part in several more WTA tournaments, but did not achieve anything special.
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
19 January Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) updated the world rankings after the WTA 500 in Adelaide and the WTA 250 in Auckland, as well as the Australian Open 2026.
Ukraine’s first racket, Elina Svitolina, remained in 12th place. Like top 20 starter Marta Kostyuk, she missed the previous week.
Dayana Yastremskaya left 500th place in the first round in Adelaide and fell to 28th place in the updated rankings. She lost to Hobart finalist Iva Jovic.
Alexandra Oleynikova, Angelina Kalinina, Anastasia Soboleva also lost a few places. Katarina Zawatskaya added three lines.
Ukrainian women in the WTA rankings
There was only one change in the top 10; Adelaide champion Mirra Andreeva moved past Jasmine Paolini to move into seventh place.
While Arina Sabalenka continues to be the first racket, she is followed by Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova and Jessica Pegula.
Elisabetta Cocciaretto, winner of the competition in Hobart, added a further 24 places and is now in 56th place.
Top 10 WTA rankings
In the WTA doubles rankings, Ukraine’s first racket, Lyudmila Kichenok, rose two places to 25th place.
Her sister Nadezhda Kichenok rose one place to 45th place. The top 100 also includes Marta Kostyuk – she is in 90th place.
Ukrainian women in WTA double the rankings
Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic (Serbia, ATP 4) reached the second round of the major.
Serbs in the first round Pedro Martínez (Spain, ATP 71) within 2 hours.
Australian Open 2026. 1/64 finals
Pedro Martinez (Spain) – Novak Djokovic (Serbia) [4] – 3:6, 2:6, 2:6
Djokovic played his first head-to-head match against Pedro.
Novak won his 100th Australian Open victory. Novak became the second player with over 100 wins in men’s singles matches at the Australian Open, after Roger Federer (102).
Djokovic also became the first tennis player to reach this mark in three different Grand Slam tournaments (101 – Roland Garros, 102 – Wimbledon). Novak has 95 wins at the US Open.
Djokovic is playing the 81st major of his career and is on a par with Roger Federer and Feliciano Lopez in this indicator.
Novak’s next opponent will be Francesco Maestrelli (Italy, ATP 141) in the qualifiers.
Video review of the match
Photo gallery of the match
infographics
Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
37-year-old Croatian tennis player Marin Cilic (ATP 70) Made a successful start to the 2026 Australian Open.
In the first round, Croatia beat the German representative in three sets Daniel Altmaier (ATP 44) In 2 hours and 1 minute, he caused the opponent team to lose two balls in the first two matches.
Australian Open 2026. 1/64 finals
Daniel Altmaier (Germany) – Marin Cilic (Croatia) – 0:6, 0:6, 6:7 (3:7)
Cilic played his first head-to-head match against Altmaier.
Cilic became the first unseeded player since Philipp Petzschner at the 2012 Australian Open to win the first two sets of a match at a Grand Slam, 6-0.
It’s funny that Altmaier was red-capped three times in a row and lost 25 games in total. Before the Australian Open 2026, Daniel played in competitions in Adelaide and lost to Jauma Munyar 3:6, 0:6 in the first round, but was ahead with a score of 3:0.
Cilic will play against 21st-seeded Denis Shapovalov (Canada, ATP 23) in the second round of the major tournament in Melbourne.
Video review of the match
Photo gallery of the match
Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
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