Organisers of the Australian Tennis Open have banned the display of Russian and Belarusian flags at the Australian Open Grand Slam following a courtside incident on Jan. 16.
Attendees could be seen displaying a Russian flag during a match between Ukraine’s Kateryna Baindl and Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova in the first round on Court 14 prompting a response from Ukraine’s Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko.
“I strongly condemn the public display of the Russian flag during the game of the Ukrainian tennis player Kateryna Baindl at the Australian Open today.
“I call on Tennis Australia to immediately enforce its ‘neutral flag’ policy,” the ambassador wrote on Twitter.
Ban ‘Effective Immediately’
Tennis Australia responded a day after immediately banning the flag.“Flags from Russia and Belarus are banned onsite at the Australian Open,” the Australian Open organiser said in a statement obtained by AAP.
“Our initial policy was that fans could bring them in but could not use them to cause disruption. Yesterday we had an incident where a flag was placed 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.”
The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations said it would be writing to Tennis Australia about the incident.
“We were extremely disappointed that [Tennis Australia] chose to ignore these principled actions by sporting bodies. Besides sending a strong signal to Putin that his war is condemned, these types of sanctions prevent Russia from trying to use athletes to project Russian power and prestige.”
Russian and Belarusian players were banned from the Wimbledon tennis tournament last year, as well as the Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup competitions.
The country of Belarus is being used as a staging ground for Russian forces to invade Ukraine.
