It’s hard to keep Djokovics away from a controversy during a Grand Slam event. On Friday (January 27), Novak Djokovic’s father Srdjan Djokovic’s father said he won’t attend the men’s singles semi-final match that involves his son. Apparently, Tennis Australia has a role to play in this decision. Tennis Australia issued a statement following Ukraine ambassador to Australia reaching out to them over Srdjan posing with Russian fans outside the Melbourne Park who held Russian flags in their hands. The incident was taken seriously by Ukraine who wrote to Tennis Autralia and requested the sports body to ‘strip him of his accreditation’. Ukraine ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko also demanded an apology from Novak who is set to play a semi-final against USA’s Tommy Paul.
As per a report, Djokovic’s father could be seen posing with a pro-Russian man in a YouTube video who has a Russian flag in his hand. Russian president Vladimir Putin’s face is also on the flag, said the report. The video caption read: “Novak Djokovic’s father makes bold political statement.” Australian newspaper Melbourne Age wrote that Srdjan said ‘Long Live Russia’ in Serbian.
Srdjan released a statement saying that he had no ill intentions of causing a political stir with his act, he only posed with fans post the matches. He said that in order to ensure there is no further disruption by protestors, he will watch his son play semi-finals from stands. Tennis Australia confirmed that Srdjan will not attend the semi-final in its statement.
Read Tennis Australia’s statement below:
“After the events of Wednesday night, we acted swiftly to work with police and out security teams to have the instigators of the protest removed from the venue. Throughout the event we have spoken with players and their teams about the importance of not engaging in any activity that causes distress or disruption. Mr Srdjan Djokovic has issues a statement confirming that he will not attend tonight’s semifinal. We will continue to strive for the safety of fans at the event and reiterate our position banning flags from Belarus and Russia. Tennis Australia stands with the call for peace and end to war and violent conflict in Ukraine.”
Last year, there was one more Djokovic vs Australian Open/Government tussle when he was told to return after he failed to prove he was eligible to enter the country despite not being vaccinated for Covid-19. Australian government had a hard Covid-19 rule in place for those entering the country but had an exception rule in place but it came with terms and conditions and Djokovic failed to prove he was eligible to enter the country.
