(VIDEO) “Grow up”: Yulia Putintseva accused of poor sportsmanship after appearing to mock Iga Swiatek’s serve at Rome Open

Yulia Putintseva came under fire on Saturday as she appeared to mock the serve of Iga Swiatek in a move dubbed as bad sportsmanship on social media after she was well beaten by the World No.1.

This is perhaps the irony of the situation. Swiatek won 6-3, 6-4 and came from 4-1 down in the latter to seal the sun so despite weathering some adversity it was pretty one sided.

Putintseva serving continued to move her head up and down in the motion that Swiatek does it but was seen as done in bad taste. “I've never criticized an athlete before but this is just poor sportsmanship. Mocking your opponent for looking up & taking time on her own serve? Iga stayed within the allotted time & didn't break any rules. GROW UP,” one social media user wrote.

“I'm not surprised by her behavior, it suits her. She will never be any competition for Iga!” another wrote to which the original poster responded. “Well, even if she knows she's likely to lose this match, she shouldn't mock others just out of frustration. She's a 29-year old professional athlete and not a child.”