Novak Djokovic insists his father was "misused" by pro-Russia fans he posed with for photos at Melbourne Park and admits the escalating saga has taken its toll during his bid for a 10th Australian Open crown.
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Srdjan Djokovic decided to watch his son's semi-final win over Tommy Paul off site to avoid becoming a disruption following the emergence of a video of him with Vladimir Putin fans on Wednesday night.
The group, including a man holding a Russian flag with president Putin's face on it, had gathered on stairs outside the grand slam complex after Djokovic's quarter-final win over Andrey Rublev.
Russian flags, the Russian Eagle banner, Belarusian flags, and items of clothing with the Z symbol are prohibited items at Melbourne Park amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine's ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, had called for Srdjan to be banned from the Open, but the world No.5 launched a fierce defence of his father, stressing his family was anti-war.
"It was unfortunate that the misinterpretation of what happened has escalated to such a high level," Djokovic said, following Friday's 7-5 6-1 6-2 victory over Paul.
"There was, I would say, a lot of conversations with tournament director, with media and everyone else.
"It has got to me, of course, as well. I was not aware of it until last night. Then, of course, I was not pleased to see that.
"My father, my whole family, and myself, have been through several wars during the '90s.
"As my father put in a statement, we are against the war, we never will support any violence or any war. We know how devastating that is for the family, for people in any country that is going through the war.
The Serbian ace stressed his father had been fulfilling his post-match routine of thanking Djokovic fans for their support.
"I heard what he said in the video. He said, 'cheers'. Unfortunately some of the media has interpreted that in a really wrong way," Djokovic said.
"I'm sorry that that has escalated so much.
"But I hope people understand that there was absolutely no intention whatsoever to support any kind of war initiatives or anything like that.
"My father was passing through. There was a lot of Serbian flags around. That's what he thought. He thought he was making photo with somebody from Serbia. That's it. He moved on.
"Of course, it's not pleasant for me to go through this with all the things that I had to deal with last year and this year in Australia. It's not something that I want or need. I hope that people will let it be, and we can focus on tennis."
Djokovic was irritated when pressed on his father's actions.
"There was no intention ... he was misused in this situation by this group of people," he said.
"I can't be angry with him or upset because I can say it was not his fault. He went out to celebrate with my fans.
"After that, he felt bad and he knew how that's going to reflect on me, the whole media pressure and everything that has happened in the last 24, 48 hours."
Djokovic was unsure whether his father would be courtside for Sunday's final against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
"Let's see," Djokovic said.
"I hope to have him. I hope he's going to be feeling okay to be in the courts because I would like to have him there for the finals."
Australian Associated Press
