Ukrainian tennis player Ekaterina Beindl (No. 95 WTA) spoke about the scandalous incident that occurred during her first round match of the Australian Open against Russia's Kamilla Rakhimova (No. 110 WTA).

As previously reported, a group of fans came to the fight with the flag of the Russian Federation and the face of the Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin on a T-shirt..

" Very strange story. I don't know if these guys were Russians or not, because I didn't hear their conversations.. To me, they were not very visually similar to Russians, it seemed that only one of them, who was in a "

In general, I tried to abstract from them as much as possible.. I saw that they hung out the Russian flag. I heard that they supported Rakhimova. I have not heard any phrases about Russia. But they obviously wanted to demonstrate something with this.. In general, I tried not to listen to them, not even look in that corner.

I just tried to ignore this provocation, not to get into conflict, because for me the priority was to win over my opponent in the game. Emotions, of course, arise not only from the match, but also from the situation itself.. Therefore, I did everything to stay in the " org. ua.

Let us add that Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia Vasily Miroshnichenko has already condemned the trick of the fans, and Beindl herself answered them on the court with her victory over the Russian woman - 5:7, 7:6, 1:6.

In the second round of the Australian Open, Catherine's opponent will be American Katie McNally (No. 94 WTA).

Recall that the organizers of the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2023 season allowed players from Russia and Belarus to compete, but only in a neutral status: without flags, anthems and other national symbols.