Australian Open Chief Tells Djokovic Family: 'Be Really Careful'

Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 21, 2023 Serbia's Novak Djokovic shakes hands with Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov after winning his third round match REUTERS/Loren Elliott
Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 21, 2023 Serbia's Novak Djokovic shakes hands with Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov after winning his third round match REUTERS/Loren Elliott
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Australian Open Chief Tells Djokovic Family: 'Be Really Careful'

Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 21, 2023 Serbia's Novak Djokovic shakes hands with Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov after winning his third round match REUTERS/Loren Elliott
Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 21, 2023 Serbia's Novak Djokovic shakes hands with Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov after winning his third round match REUTERS/Loren Elliott

Australian Open chief Craig Tiley on Saturday advised Novak Djokovic's family to be "really careful" of people using the tournament's global exposure as a platform for "disruptive" purposes.

It follows a video posted on a pro-Russian YouTube account showing Djokovic's father Srdjan posing in Melbourne Park with a fan holding a Russian flag that featured the face of Vladimir Putin.

It sparked a backlash from Ukraine and led to calls for Djokovic senior to be banned from the tournament.

He decided to skip his son's semi-final victory on Friday and it remains to be seen if he will be at Sunday's final.

Tiley told the Melbourne Age newspaper he had spent "a fair amount of time talking to the Djokovic family,” AFP reported.

"My advice is that you have to be really careful because if this is an event of global significance, it's a platform," he said he told them.

"When you have hundreds of thousands of people come through the gate, you're going to naturally have some people that are coming here with an intention to be disruptive, and don't get yourself caught in the middle of that.

"And they completely understand that," he added. "The family were very good. They were upset that it was taken that way. There was no intention of it.

"His dad particularly does not support war and they're very focused on supporting peace."

Serbian star Djokovic insisted after his semi-final win there had been a "misinterpretation" of the images and his father had "no intention whatsoever to support any war initiatives".

He said his father had been greeting fans outside Rod Laver Arena after every match and had been "misused" on Wednesday night.

Tiley said the Open had more than 1,000 accredited journalists and growing TV audiences and "it does become a platform and that's new for us. It never used to be like that".

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, Russian and Belarusian players have normally competed under a neutral white flag as independents, as is the case at the Australian Open.

Spectators have been banned from having Russian or Belarusian flags at the Grand Slam after Ukraine's ambassador to Australia and New Zealand demanded action when they were seen among the crowd early in the tournament.



Piastri Can Take Charge of Formula 1 Title Race from Pole Position in Bahrain

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia in action during the Qualifying for the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir, Bahrain, 12 April 2025. EPA/ALI HAIDER
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia in action during the Qualifying for the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir, Bahrain, 12 April 2025. EPA/ALI HAIDER
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Piastri Can Take Charge of Formula 1 Title Race from Pole Position in Bahrain

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia in action during the Qualifying for the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir, Bahrain, 12 April 2025. EPA/ALI HAIDER
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia in action during the Qualifying for the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir, Bahrain, 12 April 2025. EPA/ALI HAIDER

Oscar Piastri can seize the initiative in the Formula 1 title race as he starts on pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday with his teammate Lando Norris and champion Max Verstappen both further down the grid.
Piastri held off an unexpected challenge from Mercedes driver George Russell to take pole in qualifying Saturday in a sign McLaren is still the F1 team to beat in 2025, The Associated Press reported.
A team mix up cost Russell and Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli each one spot on the grid after penalties were imposed after the qualifying session.
Russell will start from the second row and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was promoted from third to start from the front row alongside Piastri when the race starts at 1500 GMT. Antonelli finished fourth in qualifying but will start from fifth spot.
Norris, the standings leader, could only manage sixth and said he had “no idea” what to fix.
His overnight plan? “Go to sleep” and hope things are different for the race.
Verstappen, who is one point behind Norris and won in Japan last week, starts seventh after problems with his brakes and a lack of grip. “We're not sure what to expect at the moment,” he said after qualifying.
Also in the mix are Leclerc and 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli, who last week became the youngest ever driver to lead a lap in an F1 Grand Prix race.
There's pressure on seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who starts ninth in a season of ups and downs since he joined Ferrari. Verstappen's new Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda is 10th and is aiming to be the first driver for the team other than Verstappen to score a point since November.