Controversy broke out during a match between Russian players Anna Kalinskaya and Anastasia Potapova at the Cincinnati Open when a woman was removed for wearing a Ukrainian flag.
The issue of how tennis should react to Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine in February of this year is a contentious one, with differing views about how involved sport should be in political issues.
Wimbledon took a clear stance by banning Russian and Belarusian players from this year's tournament. The ATP and WTA strongly opposed that move and responded by not awarding ranking points for the event.
There had been speculation for months before about what Wimbledon would do and how the ATP and WTA would react. However, the controversy which erupted at the Cincinnati Open was unexpected.
A woman named Lola was in the stands wearing a Ukrainian flag while Kalinskaya and Potapova's match was underway. The fan sat quietly watching, meaning any attempted protest behind the move was silent.
Kalinskaya and Potapova complained to the umpire when they noticed the Ukrainian flag. That led to the umpire telling the fan she was not being nice and asking her to put the flag away, which she refused to do.
Play resumed afterward, but a security guard arrived to escort the fan outside the stadium. Despite fans defending Lola by saying she had not been causing a disruption, the guard threatened to call the police if she did not leave.
A spokesman for the Cincinnati Masters later said the flag had broken tournament rules by being too big. Frankly, that seems like a desperate excuse because attention was only drawn to the flag because it was Ukrainian.
Rules about flag sizes are rarely strictly enforced unless they are overwhelmingly large to a point where other fans cannot see the match. The size of Lola's Ukrainian flag was not near that size.
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