Karen Khachanov lands in trouble for writing a ‘provocative’ political message following his quarter-final win at the Australian Open
Azerbaijan tennis body has demanded to punish Khachanov after he wrote a political message on camera during Australian Open.
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Karen Khachanov and his message
Russian tennis player Karen Khachanov reached the semifinals of the 2023 Australian Open. On his way to the last four, the 26-year-old defeated the in-form Americans Sebastien Korda and Frances Tiafoe. This is Khachanov’s back-to-back semifinal appearance in the Grand Slam events.
In the quarterfinals, Khachanov received a walkover after Korda suffered a wrist injury and withdrew from the match. Even before the retirement of the American, Khachanov was way ahead in the game.
But other than the feat of the Russian his moves on the court though unrelated to tennis has caused some stir. After his fourth-round match, he sent a political message. “Keep believing until the very end. Artsakh, hold on!”, he wrote on camera. Earlier following his victory over American Frances Tiafoe in the previous round, Khachanov wrote on the lens “Artsakh stay strong”.
Khachanov’s father Abgar is an Armenian and the country is at war with Azerbaijan for the Artsakh – or Nagorno-Karabakh region. Naturally, the messaging did not sit well with Azerbaijan, and it lodged a complaint with the tournament.
Australian Open urged to ‘punish’ Karen Khachnov for his political messaging
Despite the general understanding, it is not always easy to separate sports from politics. The ongoing war in Ukraine has shadowed tennis from the last season causing castigation of Russian and Belarusian players. Last year Andrey Rublev made headlines for writing about the war on the lens after his victory in Dubai. This time the messaging by Karen Khachanov during his Australian Open run became the latest issue to cloud the sport.
The Azerbaijan Tennis Federation hit back at Khachanov and urged the tournament to ‘punish’ him for his messages. It released a statement earlier in the tournament and sent a letter of protest to the ITF regarding the ‘provocation’ by the Russian player.
“The Azerbaijan Tennis Federation’s letter presented facts and legal documents regarding the provocation against Azerbaijan. The ATF condemned this act and demanded that the tennis player be punished and urged the International Tennis Federation to take harsh measures for prevention of such incidents in the future,” the statement read.
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Abhinavendu Singh
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