The Score at the Australian Open: Yulia Putintseva delivers departure salute when she gives crowd the finger

Yulia Putintseva is making the likes of Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios look like rookies when it comes to irking the general public. No stranger to controversy, she delivered a shocking departing gesture.

Sore loser Yulia Putintseva is no stranger to controversy.

Yulia Putintseva makes the Likes of Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios look like rookies when it comes to irking the general public.

No stranger to controversy the Kazakh player is fast becoming the biggest loser of the 2019 Australian Open, making headlines for all the wrong reasons yet again, this time for a shocking act directed at the Aus Open crowds on Wednesday.

After losing her second round clash with Belinda Bencic 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, Putintseva produced the lamest of efforts when it came to shaking hands with her opponent and the chair umpire.

Yulia Putintseva is no stranger to controversy.

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But it’s what happened as she left the court and made her way to the locker room that really shocked.

Shaking her hand, seemingly disappointed with the crowd (which was full of children), she delivered a middle finger salute as she disappeared.

Earlier this week, Putintseva was caught up in another handshake controversy in her opening round win over Barbora Strycova.

Sore loser Yulia Putintseva raises her middle finger to the crowd as she departs.

Afterwards, the defeated Strucova said: “I like to squeeze hand normal, but she squeezed me, like, hardcore! These bones — oww! Oww!” Strycova said afterwards.

“I was like, ‘Why’d you do that?’ She said, ‘You squeezed my hand.’ I said, ‘I squeezed your hand normal! Just let it be.’

“I didn’t really care. It’s nothing big. Just, why?”

Middle finger from PUTINTSEVA to the crowd OMG she's crazy 😂 pic.twitter.com/6FLC4J8NPn

— LorenaPopa🕵️‍♀️ 🏆🥖👑 (@popalorena) January 16, 2019

De Minaur stays true to his .... breakfast

If ever there was a walking billboard for acai bowls for breakfast then Alex de Minaur has cornered the market.

The 27th seed, who will face Rafael Nadal in the third round, still swears by the fruity goodness of acai bowls for breakfast - every morning - despite his rapid rise in the rankings.

With popularity comes expectation and pressure, but de Minaur has vowed “nothing has changed for me”.

“Look, honestly I just do the same old things, the same things that I did three years ago, four years ago,” de Minaur said.

“Like, I still go have an acai bowl in the morning.”

The Acai bowl is still a major part of Alex de Minaur’s food routine,.

Acai is a purple fruit popular in Brazil, high in antioxidants and an acai bowl is basically a breakfast smoothie.

De Minaur had some anxious moments after Wednesday night’s heriocs against Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen when he was locked out of his apartment.

He placed this post on Instagram at 1.22am as he waited for assistance.

Tasty prize awaiting Tsitsipas

It’s the highest honour bestowed on a Greek sportsperson visiting Melbourne.

To have a souvlaki named in your honour at Stalactites, the famous Greek restaurant in Lonsdale Street, is something which isn’t handed out lightly.

Marcos Baghdatis achieved that feat when he made it all the way to the Australian Open final back in 2006.

And now young gun Stefanos Tsitsipas is set to join him on the menu if he can defeat Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili on Friday.

The restaurant has only bestowed the honour once before - naming a slow-cooked lamb souvlaki after Greek Cypriot Baghdatis during his fairytale run 13 years ago.

“Stefanos is a massive sensation and if he does well, we’d love to name a souvlaki after him,” Stalactites managing director Nicole Papasavas said.

“Everyone likes their souvlaki a little bit different so we’d ask him what he likes and tailor it to his tastes.”

Tsitsipas - Greece’s highest-ever ranked player - has been a regular at Stalactites this week and also named Gazi in Flinders St as another favourite eatery.

Joseph Deng and Peter Bol take in Rafael Nadal’s clash with Matthew Ebden.

Runners centre of attention

It’s been a big couple of weeks for two of Australia’s best middle-distance runners.

Australian 800m record holder Joseph Deng and Rio Olympian Peter Bol got the full VIP treatment from Tennis Australia on Wednesday night.

The pair thought they’d been given general admission tickets but instead dined with the who’s who of the tennis fraternity before being ushered courtside to watch Rafael Nadal in action.

And they were literally in the best seats in the house, the ones on Rod Laver Arena which Hollywood royalty Will Smith and Will Ferrell had occupied last year.

Deng and Bol were in the news last week when Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was forced to assist the Sudanese pair in getting a house after four months of rental applications had been rejected.

The Tweet

(Plus,minus)- 10 Year Challenge 😅🙈 @rogerfederer #10yearchallenge pic.twitter.com/2lAvyKMNj6

— Belinda Bencic (@BelindaBencic) January 17, 2019

We may have a winner to the new viral internet sensation which has people sharing pictures of themselves 10 years ago alongside one from today.

Swiss star Belinda Bencic posted a pic of her standing next to Roger Federer when she was a junior back in her homeland and then one of her standing alongside the GOAT when they teamed up at this year’s Hopman Cup.

The secret is out: ‘We are dating’

Once again The Score was first with the news when it comes to what happens when the lights go down at Melbourne Park.

Just hours after the presses ran with news of a high-profile romance between a top-seeded female player and a flamboyant fan favourite, Elina Svitolina outed her new boyfriend Gael Monfils.

Well, it was going to be hard to continue to hide the romance given Monfils was in Svitolina’s players’ box during her second round victory over Viktoria Kuzmova.

“We are dating,” Svitolina confirmed afterwards.

“For sure, he is there for me, he is there for supporting me and I am there for him as well.

“He understands, I understand what I am going through, it’s great.”

Monfils has previously dated fellow tennis pro Dominika Cibulkova and Australian Chelsea Altman, who is now married to AFL player Tyson Goldsack.

Svitolina was last year linked to Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.

Elina Svitolina shows off a tattoo during her match against Viktoria Kuzmova.

GRAND:

Andre Agassi is much loved but it has emerged that he has a lot of love for Ash Barty. It turns out he hosted the young Aussie eight years ago in Las Vegas and has followed her career ever since.

SLAM:

The sprinkler operators who decided during the middle of a concert at the AO Live Stage to turn on the waterworks. It sent punters who were watching The Teskey Brothers running for cover and adding to the hilarity, they couldn’t turn them off for 10 minutes.

THE WHISPER

Which Aussie tennis player may not draw the headlines compared to a few of his compatriots but it’s a different story off the court where his strike rate has him regarded in the top echelon.