Australian Open 2023: Andrey Rublev says he was abused by Ukrainian fans at Melbourne Park

A high-profile Russian tennis player says he was abused by Ukrainian fans who hung their nation’s flag from the stands at his Australian Open clash.

Andrey Rublev says he was abused by Ukrainian fans at Melbourne Park. Picture: AFP Images

Russian star Andrey Rublev says he was abused by Ukrainian fans who hung their nation’s flag from the stands at his second-round Australian Open clash.

The no. 5 seed approached the chair umpire during the second set of his match against Emil Ruusuvuori, taking umbrage to the “bad words” he said the spectators were sledging him with while they displayed the flag over advertising boards.

Rublev insisted he had no issue with the flag and was instead urging the umpire to ask the spectators to curb their abuse.

It comes two days after Tennis Australia banned fans from bringing Russian flags into Melbourne Park after a group of men displayed one at a women’s match.

🇦🇺🇷🇺 Spectators with the flag of Ukraine insulted Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev during the second round match of the Australian Open against Finn Emil Ruusuvuori.

Rublev turned to the judge in connection with the insults addressed to him by the audience. pic.twitter.com/sfrLIyssCh

— marina alikantes (@Marianna9110) January 19, 2023

“I said straight away to the referee, it’s not about the flag,” Rublev told Associated Press.

“They can put any flag they want, I understand completely the situation. It was more that they started to tell me bad words and bad things.

“I said to the referee, ‘It’s not about the flag, but please can you tell them at least to not say bad words when I’m on the changeover’.”

Rublev has previously expressed his desire for peace, signing ‘no war please’ on a camera at the Indian Wells Masters last year.

Russian and Belarusian players have their flags blanked out for the tournament.