dna.fr
Novak Djokovic said on Friday evening that he regretted the absence of his father in his box during his victorious semi-final at the Australian Open and said he “hoped” that he would be present for the final on Sunday.
“It was not nice not having him in the box during the semi-final. I hope he will be there for the final,” said the Serb. His father Srdjan had decided in the middle of the afternoon not to attend the match so as not to “cause disturbances”, the Ukrainian ambassador having demanded the cancellation of his accreditation for having taken photos with supporters pro-Russians present in Melbourne.
This Friday morning, the Ukrainian ambassador in Canberra demanded from the organizers of the tournament that they withdraw the accreditation of the father of the Serbian tennis player, which was filmed with supporters waving pro-Russian flags.
“He should have his accreditation withdrawn. It’s up to Novak and his team to take matters into their own hands and sort this out,” the ambassador, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, said indignantly.
Mr Myroshnychenko also called Novak Djokovic, who was preparing to face this Friday the American Tommy Paulto personally apologize and clarify his position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“It is important that Novak addresses this situation,” he stressed. “He should apologize for what happened and condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
A video posted on a pro-Russian Australian YouTube account on Thursday showed Srdjan Djokovic posing outside the stadium with a man holding a Russian flag with the president’s face on it. Vladimir Poutine.
The video was captioned: “Novak Djokovic’s father makes bold political statement”.
“Z” symbol
Serbian sports journalists have confirmed that it was indeed Djokovic-father.
Another man was pictured inside the stadium during a Djokovic game wearing a T-shirt bearing the pro-war Russian symbol ‘Z’.
According to Mr Myroshnychenko, this new non-sporting controversy could overshadow Djokovic’s performances during the tournament this year, a year after he was expelled from Australia for trying to enter the country without being vaccinated against Covid-19.
“At the last Open, we only talked about Djokovic,” said the Ukrainian diplomat. “Now we only talk about Russian flags and Djokovic too”.
Former Ukrainian player Alex Dolgopolov, who is currently fighting with his country’s army, called Djokovic-father’s behavior on Twitter “absolutely disgusting”.
Banned Russian flags
Last week, Ambassador Myroshnychenko helped persuade Australian Open organizers to ban Russian and Belarusian flags from the stands during the tournament.
The Russian Embassy in Australia called the ban “a new example of unacceptable politicization of sport”.
Simeon Boïkov, an Australian pro-Putin activist behind this video posted on YouTube, had urged Russian fans to descend on Melbourne Park, near the stadium where the tournament is taking place, before Djokovic’s quarter-final match against Andrey Rublev on Wednesday.
“Now it’s about honor and dignity. It is an attack on honor and dignity. It has nothing to do with the war,” he said in a video message, apparently in reference to the ban on Russian flags.
Australia’s opposition leader Peter Dutton described the behavior of Djokovic’s father as “weird”.
“The Russian onslaught continues and, frankly, anyone of good will should try to deter, not encourage, President Putin,” he told Australia’s Nine Network.
Open organizer Tennis Australia said on Thursday it would continue to work with security to enforce entry rules, without directly mentioning the incident with Djokovic’s father.
“Players and their teams have been briefed and reminded of the event’s policy regarding flags and symbols and that they should avoid any situation that could disrupt the tournament,” he said. “We continue to work closely with event security and law enforcement.”
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Russian and Belarusian players usually participate in competitions as independents and under neutral white flags. This is the case at the Australian Open.