Cincinnati Masters 2022 Becomes the Hot-Bed of Controversy as a Ukrainian Fan Was Escorted Out After Russian Player’s Bizarre Complaint

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine affected the entire world, including the tennis world. Earlier, Wimbledon decided to ban the Russian players from the Championships, which garnered a lot of reactions from social media. This year’s Cincinnati Masters saw another controversy, which has left fans divided.

According to reports, the security had to remove a Ukrainian fan from the stadium after a Russian player lodged a complaint to the chair umpire.

Security removed a Ukrainian tennis fan at the Cincinnati Masters 2022

According to journalist Ben Rothenberg, the incident took place during the qualifiers between Anna Kalinskaya and Anastasia Potapova. One of the players complained to the chair umpire about a fan sitting in the stands with a Ukrainian flag and a floral crown. Incidentally, both the players were Russian.

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The fan named Lola was sitting there quietly, as per the report. After the complaint from one of the Russian players, the chair umpire approached Lola and said, “not nice.”

In reply, Lola said, “not nice to invade a country.”

Then the security at the court asked Lola to leave, otherwise, they would call the police. Interestingly, other spectators sitting at the court showed support for the Ukrainian fan, as she was just sitting there. However, Lola left the court with her other Ukrainian friends.

Later, the head of the security approached Lola with a rule book and told her that her flag was above the regulation size. Then, the security told Lola that she could return to the stadium if she keeps her flag in her car.

It is worth noting that the Cincinnati Open never enforced this flag rule so strictly before. Meanwhile, this incident has divided fans, as many think the Cincinnati Open handled the situation poorly. On the other hand, many believe Lola wanted to distract the Russian players intentionally as a sign of protest.

Russian-born Elena Rybakina won the Wimbledon Championships 2022

Earlier, there were plenty of controversies that took place regarding the participation of Russian-born Kazakh player Elena Rybakina. Many former players like John McEnroe criticized Wimbledon, as they banned the Russian players, but let a Russian-born tennis player play at the Championships.

Moreover, Rybakina won the tournament, which created further controversy. Notably, Rybakina became a Kazakh player in 2018 after the Kazakh Tennis Federation came forward to help the young Russian. Since then, she has been representing Kazakhstan.

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Meanwhile, all the Russian and Belarusian players are still playing under the neutral flag on the ATP and WTA tours. However, aside from Wimbledon, they are still not allowed to play in some countries.