Ukrainian flag at the Australian Open, Andrey Rublev: "They shouldn't insult me"



by LORENZO CIOTTI

Ukrainian flag at the Australian Open, Andrey Rublev: "They shouldn't insult me"

Andrey Rublev had to deal with a rather strange situation in his last match so far at the Australian Open. The episode didn't make the Russian player very nervous, who mainly complained about the behavior of the three fans in the stands.

The native of Moscow, while playing in the Kia Arena against the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori, saw a flag of Ukraine appear, annoyed for a moment. The 5th seed in the main draw approached the chair umpire to call attention: "The flag is ok, absolutely no problem.

But they mustn't insult me." This is Rublev's tough comment on the courth, who didn't accept the situation. The story was also summarized by Eurosport, which published a video on its social channels about what happened.

Rublev and the Struggle for Peace

In front of the media, the athlete explained: "I complained because they started saying bad words and bad things to me, so I asked the referee to tell them please not to tell me everything at the change of court," he underlined.

A spokesman for Tennis Australia then highlighted that the three fans received a warning for what they did, deciding to leave shortly after. The 25-year-old has always reiterated on several occasions in the press conference that he wants immediate peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Last season Andrey did not accept Wimbledon's decision to exclude him and his compatriots from the competition, continuing to spread messages of peace. The number 6 in the ATP world ranking has earned access to the third round of the tournament and on the Italian night of Saturday 21 January he will face the British Daniel Evans.

Andrey Rublev and Holger Rune do what they have to do without wasting too much energy. The Russian tennis player easily gets rid of Dan Evans, while the Dane condenses the vast majority of the difficulties during the third set against Ugo Humbert.

Needless to say, after the quick 6-4 6-2 that opens the match, he needs the jeudecif to avoid the fourth set. Eighth of luxury therefore on the blue of Melbourne Park, with Rune who won the only previous one (played under the roof of Paris-Bercy) a handful of months ago in the race for the most prestigious title of his career so far. Photo Credits: pic by Mail Online and AP

Australian Open Andrey Rublev Emil Ruusuvuori