Novak Djokovic’s father has been filmed posing with fanatics brandishing banned Russian flags on the Australian Open, together with one that includes Vladimir Putin, in scenes Ukraine’s ambassador slammed Thursday as “a disgrace”.
The Serbian celebrity Djokovic had simply booked his position within the match semi-final with a straight-sets thumping of Russian opponent Andrey Rublev at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday evening.
After the fit a gaggle of fanatics unfurled Russian flags — that are banned at Melbourne Park — close to the stadium and chanted pro-Russian and pro-Putin slogans.
Tennis Australia stated the 4 other folks “revealed inappropriate flags and symbols and threatened security guards”. Police had been known as they usually had been ejected from Melbourne Park.
A video later posted to a pro-Russian Australian YouTube account confirmed Djokovic’s father Srdjan posing with a person preserving a Russian flag bearing President Putin’s symbol.
The guy with the flag is dressed in a black T-shirt with a “Z” on it — a logo supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The video is captioned: “Novak Djokovic’s father makes bold political statement.”
Serbian tennis newshounds showed it used to be Djokovic’s father and the Melbourne Age newspaper reported he stated in Serbian: “Long live Russia.”
Spectators are banned from having Russian or Belarusian flags on the Grand Slam after Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, demanded motion once they had been observed some of the crowd remaining week.
At the time, Russia’s embassy in Australia hit again, calling it “another example of unacceptable politicization of sports”.
Myroshnychenko stated on Twitter on Thursday that the most recent incident used to be shameful.
“It’s a full package. Among the Serbian flags, there is: a Russian flag, Putin, Z-symbol, so-called Donetsk People’s Republic flag,” he tweeted with a hyperlink to the video.
“It’s such a disgrace… @TennisAustralia @AustralianOpen.”
Ukrainian participant Lesia Tsurenko, who used to be defeated within the Australian Open first spherical, tweeted: “No words to say.”
Another guy used to be photographed by means of AFP throughout the stadium throughout Djokovic’s fit with a pro-war “Z” image T-shirt.
Ukrainian former participant Alex Dolgopolov, who’s recently combating within the struggle, requested on Twitter: “This guy will get banned for life, at least for all Australian events, right? @AustralianOpen.”
– Honor –
Ahead of the Djokovic-Rublev fit, Simeon Boikov, who runs the YouTube channel which posted the pictures, had steered Russian supporters to descend on Melbourne Park to protest the flag ban.
“This is about honor and dignity now. This is an attack on honor and dignity. This has got nothing to do with the war,” he stated in a video message.
“The Russian empire has had its flag banned,” he added. “Well guess what Tennis Australia? Good luck when the empire strikes back.”
Tournament organizer Tennis Australia stated on Thursday it might proceed to paintings with safety to implement access laws, with out immediately addressing the incident with Djokovic’s father.
“Players and their teams have been briefed and reminded of the event policy regarding flags and symbols and to avoid any situation that has the potential to disrupt,” it stated.
“We continue to work closely with event security and law enforcement agencies.”
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine remaining 12 months, Russian and Belarusian gamers have generally competed underneath a impartial white flag as independents, as is the case on the Australian Open.
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