The father of Serbian Novak Djokovic was filmed with supporters waving pro-Russian flags during the Australian Open tennis, scenes described as “shameful” by the Ukrainian ambassador in Canberra. The Ukrainian authorities subsequently asked the Grand Slam organizers to withdraw his accreditation.
“He should have his accreditation withdrawn. It’s up to Novak and his team to take charge and sort this out,” Ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko said. The latter also called on Novak Djokovic, who was preparing to face American Tommy Paul in the semi-finals of the tournament on Friday, to personally apologize and clarify his position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Novak Djokovic “hopes” his father will be present for the final
Novak Djokovic said on Friday night that he regretted his father’s absence from his box during his semi-final victory at the Australian Open and said he “hoped” 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 been photographed with supporters pro-Russians present in Melbourne.
“Bold Political Statement”
“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, the player’s father, posing outside the stadium with a man holding a Russian flag with Vladimir Putin’s face on it.
The video was captioned: “Novak Djokovic’s father makes bold political statement”. Serbian sports journalists have confirmed that it was indeed Djokovic-father. Another man was photographed by AFP inside the stadium during a game with Djokovic wearing a T-shirt bearing the pro-war Russian symbol “Z”.
Tournament 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. Spectators are banned from Russian or Belarusian flags during the tournament.