As a result of a complaint from the Ukrainian ambassador to the nation regarding a “incident” on Monday, tournament organisers at the Australian Open have announced that spectators would no longer be permitted to fly the Russian and Belarusian flags at the competition.
Tennis Australia released a statement on Tuesday that read, “Flags from Russia and Belarus are prohibited on-site at the Australian Open.” Initially, we had a rule that said fans could carry them in but couldn’t use them to cause trouble. A flag was flown courtside in an event that happened yesterday.
On the outside courts at Melbourne Park, a Russian flag could be spotted in the spectators during Monday’s first-round match between Russian Kamilla Rakhimova and Ukrainian Kateryna Baindl. Some Ukrainian onlookers were outraged by the image, notably women’s player Marta Kostyuk, who has already said she will stick to her rule of not shaking hands with Russian and Belarusian competitors at the competition. Kostyuk posted a picture of the Russian tricolour at the game between Baindl and Rakhimova on Twitter along with the caption “no words…” and a string of “exploding head” emojis.
Vasily Myroshnychenko, the ambassador of Ukraine to Australia, chimed in as well, requesting that Tennis Australia impose a “neutral flag” policy and “strongly condemning” the use of Russian flags.
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Eugene Routman, a Russian supporter who was apparently part of the group that raised the flag, spoke to the Australian news source The Age and said: “We got a few complaints, but we weren’t heckling, we were just cheering for the Russian player because she only had one supporter, her mom.”
“It’s not like we’re waving Nazi flags and ISIS flags. It’s a sovereign country,” remarked Routman, who was sporting a T-shirt featuring President Vladimir Putin and had immigrated to Australia with his family when he was five years old from Russia.
The Russian flag was pulled down and no further action was taken after Ukrainian spectators accused Routman and his fellow supporters of “taunting” their player. They also brought security personnel to the court. Maria Tumarkin, an Australian-Ukrainian observer, said that Routman and his group’s actions were “unsafe” and “intimidating,” especially given the close proximity of spectators to the court.
Russian and Belarusian tennis players are permitted to compete at the Australian Open, but they are required to do so without wearing any of their countries’ flags. This is in accordance with the guidelines established by the ITF, WTA, and ATP when the conflict in Ukraine erupted in February.
Before the Melbourne tournament—one of the four Grand Slams on the tennis calendar—the Ukrainian envoy Myroshnychenko had urged the Australian government to outright ban Russian and Belarusian players, following the example of the British championship Wimbledon.
The Australian organisers decided against taking that action and instead allowed players like top-10 players Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev from Russia as well as women’s world number five Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus to compete, albeit with neutral status.
In response to the spectator flag ban, Sabalenka noted that although she was under the notion that “sport has nothing to do with politics,” “if everyone feels better this way, then it’s OK.”
Fifth-seeded men’s star Rublev faced Dominic Thiem in the first round on Tuesday. After the ban was instituted, a Russian flag, according to reports, was taken down from the John Cain Arena’s stands.
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