{"id":1143,"date":"2023-01-27T09:33:41","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T10:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/?p=1143"},"modified":"2025-06-20T11:02:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T11:02:51","slug":"djokovics-father-responds-after-russian-protest-row-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/27\/djokovics-father-responds-after-russian-protest-row-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic\u2019s father responds after Russian protest row (VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Srdjan Djokovic was not present for his son\u2019s Australian Open semifinal in Melbourne<\/strong><\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic’s father, Srdjan, did not attend his son\u2019s Australian Open semifinal match against Tommy Paul on Friday after saying he was unknowingly caught up in a pro-Russia demonstration following the Serb\u2019s match with Andrey Rublev earlier this week.<\/p>\n

Footage appeared online on Thursday which showed Srdjan Djokovic standing alongside a man carrying a Russian flag with an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin on it. The man was also wearing a shirt bearing the \u2018Z\u2019 symbol, which\u00a0is associated with Russian troops in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

It was confirmed after Djokovic\u2019s match with Russia\u2019s Andrey Rublev that a small number of supporters had been detained and questioned by Australian authorities for breaking an order banning the display of the Russian tricolor throughout the Grand Slam tennis tournament.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued by his representatives, Srdjan Djokovic confirmed that he would be absent from Friday\u2019s match involving his son and added that he had not intended to cause \u201cdisruption<\/em>\u201d at the event.<\/p>\n

\n

Srdjan Djokovic, tat\u0103l tenismenului, cu drapelul rus pe Rod Laver Arena la Australian Open …. pic.twitter.com\/uHAvaiUFXF<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Cosmin Cozma (@CosminCozma20) January 26, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI am here to support my son only. I had no intention of causing such headlines or disruption<\/em>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was outside with Novak\u2019s fans as I have done after all of my son\u2019s matches to celebrate his wins and take pictures with them. I had no intention of being caught up in this.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy family has lived through the horror of war, and we wish only for peace. So there is no disruption to tonight\u2019s semifinal for my son or for the other player, I have chosen to watch from home.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI wish for a great match and I will be cheering for my son, as always<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ban on Russian flags at the tournament was implemented following an early-round encounter between Ukraine\u2019s Kateryna Baindl and Russia\u2019s Kamilla Rakhimova, with Russian supporters accused of disrupting the match.<\/p>\n

Later in the tournament, a match involving Rublev was briefly interrupted when a Ukrainian flag was draped over advertising hoardings. The Russian subsequently complained to the chair umpire that he was receiving verbal abuse from a section of supporters.<\/p>\n

Addressing the issue involving Srdjan Djokovic, Tennis Australia said: \u201cAfter the events of Wednesday night, we acted swiftly to work with police and our security teams to have the instigators of the protest removed from the venue.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the event we\u2019ve spoken with players and their teams about the importance of not engaging in any activity that causes distress or disruption.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Srdjan Djokovic has issued a statement confirming that he will not attend tonight\u2019s semifinal.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to strive for the safety of fans at the event and reiterate our position banning flags from Belarus and Russia.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cTennis Australia stands with the call for peace and an end to war and violent conflict in Ukraine<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Srdjan Djokovic was not present for his son\u2019s Australian Open semifinal in Melbourne Novak Djokovic’s father, Srdjan, did not attend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1144,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions\/1144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}