Melbourne (AFP) - Ukrainian tennis player Oleksii Krutykh told AFP on Tuesday anyone displaying a Russian flag at the Australian Open should be banned, saying: "My friends are dying."
Organiser Tennis Australia has banned Russian and Belarusian flags at the Grand Slam after Ukraine's ambassador demanded action when they were seen among the crowd at Melbourne Park.
The red, white and blue stripes of Russia were held up in the crowd during Monday's first-round clash between Ukraine's Kateryna Baindl and Russia's Kamilla Rakhimova.
Russian and Belarusian tennis players have normally competed under a neutral white flag as independents since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as is the case at the Australian Open.
Belarus is a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Krutykh said he and other Ukrainian players at the tournament were "shocked" by what they saw at Baindl's match, which she won.
A Russian flag was also unfurled on Rod Laver Arena during Daniil Medvedev's clash with American Marcos Giron.
"It's not fair what they are doing," Krutykh, 22, told AFP after his first-round defeat to Argentine 23rd seed Diego Schwartzman.
"I think that the guys that did it (during Baindl's match)...I think they are Russians who live here so they don't care about what is going on in my country."
Krutykh, who is ranked 188 in the world and was the only Ukrainian in the men's singles draw, fully supports the ban on Russian and Belarusian flags.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
A Russian missile strike on a block of apartments in the city of Dnipro at the weekend killed at least 41 people, one of the deadliest attacks since the invasion.
"My Ukranian friends are in trouble, people are dying there, but they don’t know it," Krutykh said of Australian Open spectators with Russian flags.
"I think they did it for fun, but they are stupid.I think that Tennis Australia should ban the people that do it."
Krutykh was particularly hurt when he saw a man wearing a T-shirt of Putin.
"He is a guy who is killing thousands of people and there is a guy wearing his T-shirt," said Krutykh.
Playing with pride
There were Ukrainian flags in the crowd as Krutykh battled bravely to defeat against Schwartzman, the Argentine winning 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).
"I have no idea how I am here playing tennis," said Krutykh.
"When the war started I was outside Ukraine playing tournaments and I said to myself I have no other choice, I need to play.
"There is only one thing I can do, so I've been trying to push myself a bit more.
"I was telling myself the people I know in Ukraine are fighting for my country, I need to fight also on court.It’s part of the battle."
Krutykh is from Kyiv and his mother is still in the Ukrainian capital.He has lived in Berlin since March last year and not been back to his homeland since the war started.
"A good friend of mine helped me with a tennis club there (Berlin), so I play there, I practise there, I live there in that club.
"I was lucky that I got in Berlin, otherwise I know stories from other Ukrainian players because they don’t know where to train, where to live," he said.
