Cincinnati becomes the theater of the absurd. While in Ukraine the war with Russia continues, in the United States the conflict lands in other forms, with an incident that seems paradoxical due to its merit and the way it took place.
In the qualifying match of the 1000 women’s tournament, two Russian tennis players were struggling to gain access to the main draw: Anna Kalinskaya and Anastasia Potapova were the two protagonists of the match which later became the subject of controversy.
Present in the stands watching the match was Lola: a Ukrainian girl who, together with a friend, was sitting with a flag of her country and vinok, a floral crown typical of the Ukrainian country. During the first set, as Ben Rothenberg reports on social media, one of the two tennis players, it was not specified which of the two, asked the chair judge, Morgane Lara, to ask the spectator to remove the flag.
Lara pointed this out to the supporter present in the stands, reporting the request of one of the tennis players involved: it was not nice to be in a match of this type with a Ukrainian flag, said one of the two players.
Lola did not hesitate to reply that it was not nice to invade a foreign country, making an explicit reference to the geopolitical situation of Eastern Europe. The other fans did not hesitate to defend the girl, testifying that she was doing nothing but being a spectator of the match.
The reaction of the tournament
However, the girl was asked to take the flag away, prompted by the presence of a security guard: the latter explained to her that the flag did not comply with the dimensions dictated by the regulations.
The conditions dictated by the security guard were clear: Lola had to leave the Ukrainian flag in the car if she wanted to stay inside the plant. An explanation of this absurd situation was asked both from the WTA and from the organization of the tournament.
The first did not answer; the second appealed precisely to the question of the size of the flag, which was not 45×45 cm as indicated by the regulation. In the thread, there is also the video of the chair judge’s request to remove the flag, which immediately went viral on social media.
A very bad situation, especially for the reputation of the two players involved e for the tournament itself.
On an unfortunate incident at #CincyTennis yesterday:
During the first set of the women’s qualifying match between Anna Kalinskaya and Anastasia Potapova, one of the players complained to the WTA chair umpire, Morgane Lara, about a woman sitting in the stands…
(1/12)🧵 — Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) August 15, 2022
After briefly considering cutting her flag down to a regulation size, Lola was escorted by the security official to the parking lot, where he had told her she could store this offending Ukrainian flag in her car.
She was then allowed to return to the tournament grounds.
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) August 15, 2022
