Australian Open: Srdjan Djokovic pulls out of son’s semi-final

The father is trying to settle the dispute. Srdjan Djokovic, who was at the center of controversy at the Australian Open after playing with pro-Russian fans, announced on Friday that he was refusing to attend his son Novak Djokovic’s semi-finals at the stadium in order to avoid escalating tensions.

“I’m only here to support my son. It was not my intention to make headlines or cause any disruption (…) In order to avoid disruption during the semi-final for my son or his opponent, I decided to watch the game from home,” Srdjan Djokovic wrote in a statement. . Novak Djokovic, the fifth racket of the world, in the morning must fight with the American Tommy Paul for a place in the final of the tournament.

Ambassador of Ukraine intervenes

Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia Vasily Miroshnichenko called on the Serbian footballer to personally apologize and clarify his position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “It is important that Novak deal with this situation,” he stressed.

A video posted Thursday on the pro-Russian Australian YouTube account shows Srdjan Djokovic posing outside the stadium with a man holding a Russian flag bearing the face of President Vladimir Putin. The video was captioned: “Novak Djokovic’s father makes a bold political statement.”

In his press release, Srdjan Djokovic explains his vision of the incident. “I was outside with Novak’s fans, as after all my son’s matches, to celebrate his victories and take pictures with them. I didn’t mean to get caught up in this turmoil,” he says.

This new unsportsmanlike controversy could overshadow Djokovic’s performance at the tournament this year, a year after he was expelled from Australia for trying to enter the country without a Covid-19 shot, Vasily Miroshnichenko said. “At the last Open, we only talked about Djokovic,” the Ukrainian diplomat said. “Now we’re only talking about Russian flags and Djokovic too.”

Former Ukrainian player Oleksiy Dolgopolov, who is currently fighting in his country’s army, called Djokovic’s father’s behavior “absolutely disgusting” on Twitter.

Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, beaten in the 3rd round of the tournament, considered this behavior “very upsetting.” “I don’t know, I don’t understand, it really hurts and I don’t understand how this is possible,” she said.

Russian flags are prohibited

Last week, Ambassador Vasily Miroshnichenko helped persuade the Australian Open to ban Russian and Belarusian flags from the stands during the tournament. The Russian Embassy in Australia called the ban “a new example of the unacceptable politicization of sports.”

Organizer Open Tennis Australia said Thursday it will continue to work with security to enforce entry rules, without directly mentioning the incident with Djokovic’s father.