Djoker’s dad in limbo ahead of final

Australian Open boss Craig Tiley says it is still “too early to tell” whether Novak Djokovic’s father will be allowed to attend tonight’s men’s singles final.

Mr Tiley said no decision had been made on whether Srdjan Djokovic would be sanctioned by Tennis Australia after he was seen with pro-Russian demonstrators outside Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday night.

The Serbian tennis star’s father posed for a photo with a man who wore symbols that supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and was also holding a Russian flag featuring Vladimir Putin’s face.

The incident sparked outrage from Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko, who called for Tennis Australia to respond strongly to condemn the war.

On Sunday morning, Mr Tiley said Mr Djokovic had not breached the event policy when he engaged with the demonstrators.

“There are individuals that come on site with a purposeful intent to disrupt the enjoyment of other fans,” Mr Tiley told Nine.

“Those individuals will be removed. Certainly Novak’s dad was not in that position of doing that.

“It was one of those situations where he was around people that were enjoying it and one or two individuals in that crowd that shouldn’t have been here on site.”

When asked if was a “good look” for Djokovic Snr to attend the final, Mr Tiley said it was still “too early to tell”.

“We will have discussions with the family. They’re more focused on getting ready for tonight,” he said.

“We’ve spoken to the family. They’ve been brilliant in the whole situation.

“They feel devastated by the fact it has been reviewed this way and I know very much so his dad and the family, they want peace, they don’t want war, they’ve made that clear.

“They feel really bad they got into this unfortunate situation.”

Djokovic, the world number one, will be heavily favoured as he takes on Greek 24-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas in the men’s singles final, which will begin on Rod Laver Arena at 7.30pm.

If Djokovic wins, he will equal Rafael Nadal’s all-time record of 22 Grand Slam titles, after he claimed his first slam victory at Melbourne Park as a 20-year-old in 2008.