Novak’s father joins Putin supporters

NOVAK DJOKOVIC’S father, Srdjan, has been filmed at a pro-Russian demonstration at the Australian Open.

In a video on YouTube, he is pictured standing alongside a man with a T-shirt with the pro-war ‘Z’ symbol on it and holding a flag of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Djokovic Sr appears to say to the man “ziveli Russiyani”, which is roughly translated as “long live the Russians”. The group had gathered on the steps outside Rod Laver Arena in the wake of Djokovic’s comfortable straight-sets quarter-final win over Russian Andrey Rublev yesterday.

They were chanting “Serbia, Russia” repeatedly before being belatedly evicted from the site.

Russian and Belarusian flags had been banned at the Australian Open, following an incident on the opening day in which a Russian flag was unfurled in the match between Ukraine’s Kateryna Baindl and Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova.

It led to a complaint from Ukraine’s ambassador to the tournament, leading to an immediate ban being imposed.

Tournament organisers said that four people had been questioned by Victoria police in relation to the incident, after being evicted from the site and reportedly abusing security staff.

In a statement today, Tennis Australia said: “A small group of people displayed inappropriate flags and symbols and threatened security guards following

a match on Wednesday night and were evicted.

“Players and their teams have been briefed and reminded of the event policy regarding flags and symbols and to avoid any situation that has the potential to disrupt.

“We continue to work closely with event security and law enforcement agencies.”

In response to the clip of the pro-Russian supporters with Djokovic’s father (right), former Ukrainian tennis player Alexandr Dolgopolov said: “Absolutely disgusting. Politics should be kept out of sports they said. These people have absolutely no business in being on tennis tournaments, including @DjokerNole father, if they openly praise a genocidal regime.”

Russian and Belarusian players were banned from competing at Wimbledon and all other grasscourt events on British soil last year. Meanwhile, the respective flags for the players from those nations are banned from the tournament, and the ATP and WTA websites.

Djokovic is the hot favourite to win a 10th Australian Open title on Sunday, following his 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 last-eight victory over Rublev yesterday.

The 35-year-old Serbian, who has never lost a semi-final at Melbourne Park, faces unseeded American Tommy Paul for a place in the final.

Djokovic is no stranger to controversy at the Australian Open. Last year, he arrived at the tournament in the belief he could play despite not having been vaccinated against Covid.

He was subsequently held by officials and deported back home after lengthy legal wranglings.