Songs about rabbits help Yulia Putintseva dance through tense Australian Open third round

MELBOURNE, Australia—Yulia Putintseva found herself in the eye of the storm on Friday when she took on Zeynep Sonmez and an enthusiastic Turkish crowd at the 2026 Australian Open. It was in that bizarre calm that the Kazakh started to sing a song. About rabbits.

“It's like a Russian song,” she said of Песня про зайцев, a song quite literally about rabbits from the 1969 Soviet film Бриллиантовая рука (The Diamond Arm). “It's just about rabbits who eat the grass. I was like distracting myself with this.”

Putintseva needed the distraction. For the second time this week, the former world No. 20 was up against a crowd favorite—having already solved Brazilian star Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first round—in an atmosphere that became, at times, downright unpleasant.

“I think was really a lot of disrespectful moments when they were screaming between my first and second serve,” Putintseva described in her post-match press conference. “But screaming, not even. Like really loud, like, just to make me mistake.

“In the game, I think it was 4-3, was a big point, and, like, I opened court very good. I take my forehand, the guy just started, like, coughing just for my shot. I was like, ‘Okay, now, I'm not going to lose.’ Like, really. I was ready to take it all, but I was ready to fight like until I die there.

“What can I do? It's just some people have education of tennis and, unfortunately, some of them not.”

Still, the dip back into Soviet cinema surprised even Putintseva, a noted pop music fan.

“Usually I'm like Taylor Swift, like some kind of vibey song, and, I don't know, like The Weeknd, and here it comes like a rabbit song. I'm, like, I don't know why!”

Though Sonmez had the crowd—and an incredible story after the qualifier became the first from her country to reach a Grand Slam third round—Putintseva had enough in the tank to counter their energy almost entirely on her own.

“I'm very happy that I kept my calm, because Yulia last year would probably throw something at them at some moment,” she said with a laugh.

Known for her emotionally demonstrative—to borrow a phrase from Hall of Famer Pam Shriver—reactions and celebrations, Putintseva saved her best for last as she edged over the line against Sonmez, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3, and secure a career-best finish in Melbourne.

“The dancing was just in the end because I was, like, too tired, and the guys was, like, whistling. I mean what can you do? You just have to dance through it.”

Putintseva one-two-stepped into a Round of 16 clash against either No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini or No. 29 seed Iva Jovic.