Wimbledon 'gangster' who beat Iga Swiatek was told she 'needs a psychiatrist'

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek crashed out of Wimbledon as her search for a first SW19 title goes on for another year. She has never gone past the quarter-finals and fell to a self-admitted “gangster” in Yulia Putintseva in the third round.

Swiatek put Sofia Kenin and Petra Martic to one side this week while Russian-born Kazakhstani Putintseva defeated Angelique Kerber and Katerina Siniakova.

Putintseve beat Swiatek 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to move into the fourth round at Wimbledon

But the three-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist has been known for her controversial moments in the past.

"I'm like a gangster on court, but like an angel off court," she told the WTA. But she insisted that her fiery on-court persona does not correlate elsewhere and that she is “really different in real life.”

Swiatek faced Putintseva at Indian Wells and the Italian Open this year, winning both in straight sets, but the four-time French Open champion was unhappy in the US as a result of her opponent’s movements.

Putintseva was reprimanded by the chair umpire for sliding side to side when Swiatek was preparing to serve, before throwing in a few underarm serves herself.

"Maybe they teach that in Kazakhstan," said Swiatek. "I can only be responsible for what's going on with me. I want to keep my standards high no matter what's going on, and I think this match was a test for my mental training that I did."

Putintseva is a three-time WTA title winner and Swiatek did not take her challenge lightly. Her presence on the court very rarely ends in a boring affair, with Victoria Azarenka previously insisting that she “needs a psychiatrist” after their clash in Doha.

During her first-round Qatar Open meeting with Azarenka, Putintseva was accused of cheating by allegedly faking injuries when Azarenka was going to serve. She smashed several rackets during the contest and later shared a visibly cold post-match handshake, prompting Azarenka to wonder what exactly had happened.

“Before my serve, she can do that (call a medical time-out). What’s the problem? She has to wait for me to serve, she threw her racket like seven times. She needs a mental coach, she needs a psychiatrist. There was way too much stuff in this match. Unnecessary stuff as well.”

After picking up a grass title in Birmingham and defeating former Australian Open champion Kenin, Putintseva was full of confidence in her win over Swiatek.

Putintseva has long been a staunch defender of her behaviour and revealed that she has always played tennis in such a manner, with Swiatek set to be the next target.

"I knew since I was a kid,” she explained. My father would tell me, 'Yulia, your temper on the court is too much sometimes.'

"But his temper was too much sometimes, too. We were both hard characters when we used to work together. But outside it was a lot of love and chill time. We actually never fought outside the court but all the time on the court."