The two flags banned at the Australian Open: the details

After an incident on the opening day, from the organization of the first Grand Slam of the year they made a decisive decision.

The organization of australia tomorrow Russian and Belarusian flags were banned from being displayed at tournament facilities on Tuesday, after a man hung the Russian insignia in the stands during the match between Russian Kamilla Rakhimova and Ukrainian Kateryna Kozlova, for the first round .

“Russian and Belarusian flags are prohibited inside the Australian Open. Our first rule is that fans can bring them, but they can’t use them to distract. Yesterday we had an incident where a Russian flag was placed next to the track“, they confirmed from the Australian Tennis Federation in a statement.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022, dozens of Russian athletes, teams and federations have been excluded from major competitions or forced to participate without a flag.

Wimbledon opted for this proposal last year and banned players from these two countries from the tournament, which as a result are not counted for rankings by ATP and WTA decision.

The protest of the Russian embassy in Australia and the opinion of tennis players

The Russian embassy in Australia criticized “another example of the unacceptable politicization of sport“and he regretted that, in addition to carrying a neutral flag, his players”not seen as endorsed by fans“.

Meanwhile, Belarusian and world number five Aryna Sabalenka said she is not against banning the flags “if everyone felt this way“but sport has already been mentioned”It has nothing to do with politics“.

“What they are doing is not fair. people are dying there“, said the Ukrainian tennis player Oleksii Krutykh, who lost to Argentine Diego Schwartzman in his debut, and assured that the players from his country are “shocked” for the appearance of Russian flags on the stands.