Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic
Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia urged tennis officials on Friday to ban Novak Djokovic’s father from the Australian Open after he was filmed posing with fans holding Russian flags.
“He should be stripped of his accreditation,” Ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko told AFP.
Myroshnychenko also called on Djokovic, who is preparing to face Tommy Paul in the tournament’s semifinals, to apologize personally and clarify his stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“He should apologize for what happened and condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” he demanded.
A video posted on a pro-Russian Australian YouTube account on Thursday showed Djokovic’s father, Srdjan, posing with a man holding a Russian flag with the face of Vladimir Putin on it.
The video was captioned: “Novak Djokovic’s father makes a bold political statement.”
Serbian tennis reporters confirmed that he was Djokovic’s father and the Melbourne Age newspaper reported that he said in Serbian: “Long live Russia.”
Another man was photographed by AFP inside the stadium during Djokovic’s match wearing a T-shirt with the pro-war Russian “Z” symbol on it.
Last year, Djokovic was deported from Australia for refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19, the controversy overshadowed the start of the tournament.
Myroshnychenko said the player’s response to the latest controversy would once again divert attention from what was happening on the pitch.
“The last Open was all about Djokovic,” he said. “Now it’s all about Russian flags and Djokovic too.”
Former Ukrainian player Alex Dolgopolov said on Twitter that the flag rage was “absolutely disgusting.”
Myroshnychenko was instrumental in persuading the Australian Open organizers to ban the Russian and Belarusian flags at this year’s Grand Slam.
The Russian embassy in Australia responded to the ban, calling it “another example of the unacceptable politicization of sports.”
Simeon Boikov, who runs the YouTube channel that posted the images of the flag, urged Russian fans to descend on Melbourne Park ahead of Djokovic’s quarterfinal match against Andrey Rublev.
“This is about honor and dignity now. This is an attack on honor and dignity. This has nothing to do with the war,” she said in a video message.
Australia’s Conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton has called the behavior of Djokovic’s father “bizarre”.
“The Russian attack continues and frankly everyone of good will should be trying to deter, not encourage, President Putin,” he told Australia’s Nine Network.
Tournament organizer Tennis Australia said on Thursday it would safely continue to work to enforce the entry rules, without directly addressing the incident with Djokovic’s father.
“The players and their teams have been informed and reminded of the event policy regarding flags and symbols and to avoid any situation that has the potential to be disruptive,” it said.
“We continue to work closely with law enforcement and event security agencies.”
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, Russian and Belarusian players have typically competed under a neutral white flag as independents, as is the case at the Australian Open.
