At the Australian Open tennis championship, the Russian flag was shown, despite the fact that Russians and Belarusians were allowed to compete in neutral status.
Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko called on the organizers of the Australian Open 2023 to react.
"I strongly condemn the public display of the Russian flag during todayʼs game of Ukrainian tennis player Kateryna Byndl at the Australian Open. I call on Tennis Australia to implement its ʼneutral flagʼ policy immediately," the ambassador said.
On January 16, Ukrainian tennis player Kateryna Byndl won the opening match of the first Australian Open 2023 Grand Slam tournament season. She defeated Russian Kamilla Rakhimova in three sets.
- On January 5, the Australian Tennis Federation announced that it would not suspend Russian and Belarusian tennis players from the Australian Open tournament. The Federation said that athletes from these countries can participate in international tennis tournaments, but without national flags and designation of their country.