Tennis Australia on Tuesday applied a prohibition on the show of each Russian and Belarusian flags on the Australian Open, following a request from Ukraine’s ambassador for the measure to be taken after the flags had been seen among the many viewers.
Moscow responded by calling the ban an “unacceptable politicization of sports.”
The purple, white and blue stripes of Russia had been held up by followers throughout Monday’s first-round conflict between Ukraine’s Kateryna Baindl and Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova on Day One.
Ukrainian followers reportedly known as safety and police to the stands.
A Russian flag was additionally unfurled on Rod Laver Arena throughout Daniil Medvedev’s conflict with American Marcos Giron.
“Flags from Russia and Belarus are banned onsite at the Australian Open,” Tennis Australia stated in a press release.
“Our preliminary coverage was that followers may carry them in however couldn’t use them to trigger disruption. Yesterday, we had an incident the place a flag was positioned courtside.
“The ban is effective immediately. We will continue to work with the players and our fans to ensure the best possible environment to enjoy the tennis.”
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian and Belarusian gamers have usually competed beneath a impartial white flag as independents, as is the case on the Australian Open.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, had late Monday known as on Tennis Australia to take motion.
“I strongly condemn the public display of the Russian flag during the game of the Ukrainian tennis player Kateryna Baindl at the Australian Open,” he tweeted.
“I call on Tennis Australia to immediately enforce its ‘neutral flag’ policy.”
The diplomat final week urged the Australian Open to ban Russian and Belarusian gamers fully, the latter resulting from Belarus’s help of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Wimbledon went down that route final 12 months, barring gamers from each international locations, resulting in the event being stripped of its rating factors by the ATP and WTA.
Prior to the flag ban, former Australian ambassador to Ukraine, Doug Trappett, who served within the position from 2015 to 2016, slammed Australian Open organizers.
Writing on Twitter, he known as it “embarrassing.”
“You could have banned Russian players and positioned yourself to give a robust response to such predictable incidents but you chose spinelessness,” he tweeted.
Intimidation
Russia’s Embassy in Australia hit again on the ban, calling it “another example of unacceptable politicization of sports”.
“On top of already discriminating against Russian tennis players with its ‘neutral flag’ policy, Tennis Australia now went further by making sure they can not be visibly supported by their fans,” it stated in a press release.
“It is indeed regrettable to see the tournament organizers give in to overt and rather arrogant political manipulation sacrificing the spirit of fair play once inherent to the Australian Open.”
Baindl received her match 7-5, 6-7, (8/10), 6-1 and can face American Caty McNally within the second spherical.
Ukrainian-Australian fan Maria Tumarkin instructed the Melbourne Age newspaper she was the one who known as safety, claiming Russian followers had been heckling Baindl.
“This is profoundly unsafe, the war is ongoing,” she stated. “It’s a small court, the guys were extremely close to the players, so there was an element of what I felt was intimidation.”
Belarusian world No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka stated she had no objection to the flag ban “if everyone feels better this way.”
But she additionally believes that sport “is nothing to do with politics.”
“I have zero control on it. What can I say? They did it, okay, no flags,” added Sabalenka, among the many gamers affected by the Wimbledon ban final 12 months.
Asked if she may perceive how some Ukrainian followers could possibly be upset by seeing Russian or Belarusian flags, she replied: “I’m pretty sure they (are) upset about that, and, if Tennis Australia made this decision to make them feel better, okay.”
