Add Category
The presence of a Russian flag in the stands at the Australian Open has prompted organisers to ban them from Melbourne Park.
- The flag was visible behind fans on court 14 during a match between Ukraine's Kateryna Baindl and Russian Kamilla Rakhimova
- Tennis Australia said fans were initially allowed to bring the flags in if they did not cause a disruption
- Russian and Belarusian players have been playing under no flag in many sports since the invasion of Ukraine last February
The red, white and blue stripes of the Russian flag were visible in the crowd during the first-round match between Kateryna Baindl and Kamilla Rakhimova on day one of the tennis major.
Tennis Australia (TA) said the display during the Baindl-Rakhimova match prompted a change to its policy at the tournament.
"Flags from Russia and Belarus are banned onsite at the Australian Open," TA said in a statement.
"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."
Ukraine's Baindl defeated Russia's Rakhimova 7-5, 6-7(8/10), 6-1 on court 14, where viewers saw a Russian flag hanging on a fence during the match.
On the same day the ban was announced, a Russian flag was held up by fans in the stands at John Cain Arena during the match between Russian Andrey Rublev and Austria's Dominic Thiem.
That match started before the ban was in place and finished after it was announced.
Belarusian fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka said she respected TA's decision.
"If everyone feels better this way, then it's OK," she said,
"I have zero control on it. What can I say? They did it, OK? No flags, no flags."
Russian and Belarusian opponents have not been able to play under their countries' flags in a number of sports, including tennis, since the invasion of Ukraine began in February last year.
Ukraine Ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko said the Russian flag is a symbol of the "all the atrocities that Ukrainians have to go through."
"It was a very emotional moment for the tennis player but everybody who could see it, more so, we've learned that those Russians were not just displaying the flag but they were also mocking the Ukrainian player," he said.
Myroshnychenko said he welcomed the decision to ban the Russian and Belarusian flags from Melbourne Park.
"It's always good to learn from mistakes and to actually try to fix it … I think that it's important they will enforce it because it's a great deal of distraction as well as a traumatising experience," he said.
"They could have avoided it from the very beginning if they had banned Russian participation from the very beginning but they didn't. We're going to be seeing more of that throughout the competition, unfortunately."
He said he'd like to see the ban extended to include Russian symbols in any form.
"To say that sport is beyond politics is just not true, and everybody knows it," Mr Myroshnychenko said.
One of the fans who bore the flag, a Russian-Australian named Eugene, has defended his right to support the country of his birth.
"We always go to the Australian Open to support the Russian players. There was definitely no intention to provoke anyone," Eugene told ABC Radio Melbourne.
"We certainly weren't heckling the Ukrainian player, not even once, we were cheering and being loud every time Kamilla won a point but there was no provocation and no incident.
"There was no fiery exchange of words at any point yesterday."
Eugene, who emigrated to Australia when he was five, has decried the flag ban as discriminatory against Russian fans.
"We're not supporters of the war, we're not really supporters of Putin, we're supporters of the Russian players. We certainly didn't have any political messages either," Eugene said.
"It's very un-Australian, (it's) screaming intolerance, discrimination, racism – how can you ban a country's flag?
"It's un-Australian because we don't practise racism, we are not a racist country, we believe in giving people a fair go and what Tennis Australia is doing right now is essentially discrimination against Russian and Belarussian players."
Players from Russia and Belarus were banned from playing Wimbledon in 2022, which led to that tournament being stripped of its ranking points by tennis's governing bodies.
Former Australian ambassador to Ukraine Doug Trappett — who served in the role from 2015 to 2016 — said the Australian Open and Tennis Australia should have done the same, drawing attention to a missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro that killed dozens.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's number two tennis player, Marta Kostyuk, said she would not shake hands with tour rivals from Russia and Belarus who, she felt, have not done enough to speak out against the invasion.
The 20-year-old Kyiv native generated headlines last year when she refused the customary handshake at the net with former world number one Victoria Azarenka after the Belarusian defeated her at the US Open.
Belarus has been used as a key staging ground for Russia's war in Ukraine and the two countries are about to undergo a joint military exercise.
After winning her first match at the Australian Open on Monday — upsetting 28th-seeded American Amanda Anisimova — Kostyuk said she would snub handshakes with any Russian or Belarusian opponent who had not openly condemned the invasion.
"I haven't changed about the war and everything that's going on, on tour," she said.
"Because people who just say they don't want war, it makes us [Ukraine] sound like we want war.
"Obviously, we don't want the war, too."
Kostyuk — who has family still in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv — said it was not "humane" to stay quiet on the issue.
"I don't really talk to anyone," she said of Russian and Belarusian players.
"I barely say 'hi' to them."
ABC/Reuters