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Novak Djokovic says an incident involving his father at the Australian Open has been misrepresented, admitting the situation has affected his campaign at the tournament in Melbourne.
Key points:
- Djokovic says he is upset the incident had "escalated to such a high level"
- He says he and his family do not support the Russia-Ukraine war
- Djokovic hopes his father will attend Sunday night's Australian Open final
On Wednesday night at Melbourne Park, Srdjan Djokovic was filmed standing with a group displaying a banned Russian flag that was superimposed with Vladimir Putin's face.
One of the group was wearing a T-shirt with the symbol "Z", which is an emblem representing support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The video of the incident was posted on YouTube.
Amid media coverage of the incident, Djokovic's father released a statement saying he would not attend his son's semifinal at Rod Laver Arena on Friday night as he did not want to cause a "disruption".
Speaking after his semi-final victory over Tommy Paul, Djokovic said he was disappointed by the publicity the incident had attracted.
He said his father was "misused in this situation by this group of people".
"It was unfortunate that the misinterpretation of what happened yesterday has escalated to such a high level," Djokovic told reporters.
"There was, I would say, a lot of conversations with [the] tournament director [Craig Tiley], with media and everyone else. It has got to me, of course, as well."
The Serb claimed media reports had incorrectly translated a comment made by his father in the video.
"I heard what he said in the video: he said, 'Cheers'," Djokovic said.
"Unfortunately some of the media has interpreted that in a really wrong way.
"I'm sorry that that has escalated so much. But I hope people understand that there was absolutely no intention whatsoever to support any kind of war initiatives or anything like that.
"My father was passing through [the crowd]. There was a lot of Serbian flags around. That's what he thought. He thought he was making photo with somebody from Serbia. That's it. He moved on."
'We are against the war'
Djokovic said his father, as with the rest of his family, did not support the Russia-Ukraine war.
"My father, my whole family and myself, have been through several wars during [the] '90s," he said.
"As my father put in a statement, we are against the war, we never will support any violence or any war.
"We know how devastating that is for the family, for people in any country that is going through the war."
Djokovic, who will play Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday night's final, said a decision had not been made on whether his father would attend the match.
He said he missed having him in his player's box during the semi-final.
"Let's see. Of course, it wasn't pleasant not to have him in the box," Djokovic said.
"It's a decision that we made together. [We] just didn't know how things will play out, I guess. I hope to have him.
"I hope he's going to be feeling OK to be in the courts because I would like to have him there for the finals."
Djokovic defeated unseeded American Paul 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 to set up the clash with Tsitsipas.
The 35-year-old is chasing his 10th Australian Open title and his 22nd major singles championship.
The winner of the final will be crowned men's world number one when the ATP rankings are released on Monday.