Andrey Rublev has played the second round of the Australian Open against Emil Ruusuvuori and in that match he has had to endure insults from several fans who carried a Ukrainian flag. The tennis player addressed the referee to inform him that the “didn’t mind” flagbut that the insults would stop.
Rublev stopped the match in the second set. He turned to the chair umpire to ask him to those fans will stop insulting him. Fans carrying a flag in the colors of Ukraine.
“I told the referee directly, it’s not about the flag. They can put the flag they want, I fully understand the situation. It was more that they started me to say ugly words and bad things“, explained the Russian after the meeting.
“I told the referee: ‘It’s not about the flagbut can you please tell them to at least not swear when I’m at the lane change?'” Rublev said.
The tennis player has left several gestures since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. The most obvious was some words that he wrote on a television camera at the end of a game. “stop the war”wrote the tennis player.
Some fans went to Rublev’s game to insult him and taunt him with the Ukrainian flag.
The Russian’s response? “The flag doesn’t bother me. It’s fine. I just ask that you don’t insult me”pic.twitter.com/Mpql7dr4QV
— Set Tennis (@settenisok) January 19, 2023
