On Sunday, the two Russian tennis players Anastasia Potapova (21) and Anna Kalinskaya (23) played the final qualifying round in Cincinnati. Both athletes will play under a neutral flag, as Russian and Belarusian players will otherwise be excluded due to the war in Ukraine. During the game there was a scandal.
A woman silently watches the game with a Ukrainian flag tied around her neck. As reported by tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg, the woman is a local resident named Lola. During a change of sides, Potapova becomes aware of the woman and complains to the referee.
Flag was too big
The impartial Morgane Lara strikes up a conversation with Lola and tells her it’s not nice to watch the game with the Ukrainian flag on. Lola replies: “It’s not nice to invade a country.” Security personnel were called and threatened to call the police if Lola didn’t leave the premises. In the end she left on her own initiative.
A spokesman for the tournament justified the security personnel’s actions as follows: “According to the regulations of the Western & Southern Open, as stated on the tournament website, flags or banners that exceed a certain size are prohibited.” Lola is only allowed to step on the railing again as soon as she puts down the flag.
Rothenberg finds no understanding for the reasoning of the tournament management: “Anyone who has ever been to Cincinnati knows that flags of a similar size have been waved and shown in the stadiums for years, mostly US and Serbian flags. This is not a policy that has ever been enforced with any regularity.” (mab)
