According to AFP news report on the 27th, a video of Djokovic’s father Srdan posing with a man holding a Russian flag with the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin on a YouTube channel run by a pro-Russian Australian the day before was uploaded. 스포츠토토

The video was captioned, “Novak Djokovic’s father made a bold political statement.”

Australian newspaper The Melbourne Age reported that Srdan said “Long live Russia” in Serbian.

The Ukrainian government and tennis people are very displeased.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasil Mirosnichenko, told AFP that the organizers of the Australian Open should revoke Srdan’s participation in the tournament.

“It is important for Novak Djokovic to resolve this situation,” he said. “Djokovic must apologize for what happened and condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Djokovic entered Australia ahead of last year’s tournament, but was virtually expelled after a court battle because he did not receive the Corona 19 vaccine, causing great controversy.

Thanks to the Australian government relaxing quarantine regulations last year, Djokovic returned to the Australian Open after two years, but this time he was again at the center of controversy because of his father.

Ambassador Mirosnichenko said, “Just as last year’s competition was filled with Djokovic’s vaccine controversy, this competition was filled with the Russian flag and Djokovic.” that,” he said.

Ambassador Mirosnichenko insisted that the flag of Belarus, which aided in the invasion of Russia, should be banned, and carried it out.

Ukrainian tennis player Alexander Dolgopolov, now a soldier now fighting on the battlefield, retweeted a tweet featuring photos of Novak and Srdan on Twitter, saying, “This guy should be banned for life. At least not at the Australian Open.” wrote.

After posting the video in question, he tweeted, “(Russians) claim that sport is separate from politics, but these people who support a genocidal regime have nothing to do with tennis.”

The Australian Tennis Association (TA) announced that it would “continue to abide by the spectator policy (which prohibits the unfurling of Russian and Belarusian flags)” without directly commenting on Srdan.

Russia and Belarus are restricted from participating in major sporting international competitions due to sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

Athletes can only participate in international competitions as individuals, and the use of national flags or national anthems is prohibited.

The same is true of this year’s Australian Open, and the nationality mark is missing next to the names of Russian and Belarusian players, and the national flag is not displayed on the electronic display board.

Djokovic, who is trying to win his 10th Australian Open championship and his 22nd major title, the most ever, competes with Tommy Paul (USA) at 5:30 pm (Korean time) on the same day to advance to the final.