"Absolutely disgusting" - Alex Dolgopolov furious over Novak Djokovic's father allegedly supporting pro-Russian actions at Australian Open 2023
Former Ukrainian tennis pro Alex Dolgopolov recently expressed his outrage in response to Novak Djokovic's father's alleged support for pro-Russian actions at the ongoing 2023 Australian Open.
The controversial incident took place on the day of Djokovic's quarterfinal match against Andrey Rublev, where the Serb defeated the Russian 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals. Following the match, the Serb's father, Srdjan Djokovic, posed for photographs with a group of supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A video posted on YouTube shows Srdjan posing with a man holding a Russian flag with Putin's face on it and wearing a t-shirt with the infamous 'Z' symbol, which is viewed as a pro-war representation of President Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
In an apparent demonstration of support for the Russian cause, Srdjan could allegedly be heard saying to the man, "Zivejli Russiyani." The phrase was translated as "long live the Russians" by the channel, but Srdjan's words were later proven to merely mean 'Cheers'.
Check out the video here:
The incident sparked a great deal of controversy, and former Ukrainian tennis star Alex Dolgopolov was unable to hold back his outrage.
He called it "absolutely disgusting" and said that if these individuals, including Djokovic's father, support such a "genocidal regime," they have no business being around tennis tournaments.
"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," Dolgopolov tweeted.
🏻Z
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👎🏻Z🇷🇺❌
@atptour @AustralianOpen
youtu.be/1MCPYdm8kZM
Dolgopolov went on to state that politics is always a part of sports. He used the aforementioned incident as well as one involving Karen Khachanov's advocacy for the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh as examples.
"To be clear. The ones saying-politics are out of sports, is simply delusional, never was, never will be and this video is a clear example. As well as this picture," he wrote.
To be clear. The ones saying-politics are out of sports, is simply delusional, never was, never will be and this video is a clear example. As well as this picture https://t.co/TuqlgRsmFO
Novak Djokovic continues to face heckling issues at the Australian Open 2023
It all started with Novak Djokovic's second-round match against French qualifier Enzo Couacaud. During the encounter, the Serb demanded that a loudmouthed tennis fan be ejected from the Rod Laver Arena.
Djokovic took matters into his own hands, telling the umpire that the spectator was attempting to get inside his head during the tie-break.
"The guy's drunk out of his mind, from the first point he's been provoking me. He's not here to watch tennis. He just wants to get in my head," Novak said.
A similar thing happened in Djokovic's fourth-round match against Alex de Minaur, where an audience member heckled him over his vaccination status. The issue continued in his quarterfinal match against Andrey Rublev, when both players were forced to stop playing at one point due to a particularly loud heckler - who umpire James Keothavong later warned.