Controversy in Melbourne. The Russian player Karen Khachanov, still in the running in the men's singles draw at the Australian Open (he faces the American Sebastian Korda this Tuesday, January 24 in the quarter-final), caused a serious diplomatic incident with the 'Azerbaijan. In question, his successive messages of support for Nagorno-Karabakh, a region mainly populated by Armenians, which became independent from Azerbaijan in 1988. Since then, it has been the subject of frequent disputes between Yerevan and Baku. At the end of last week, Karen Khachanov took advantage of the traditional sequence of the post-match message written on the lens of a camera on the court, after her victory against the American Frances Tiafoe, to express her support for the Armenian community in the region. “ Artsakh, stay strong! !!“, he wrote in marker. The Russian of Armenian origin did it again after his success against the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka. “ Keep believing and fighting until the end. Artsakh remains strong!“, he wrote. Unsurprisingly, the Azerbaijan Tennis Federation did not remain without reaction. She explained on her website that she had sent an official letter of protest to the International Tennis Federation (ITF). “ The letter provides facts and legal documents relating to the attack on our country, explains the national body. The Azerbaijan Tennis Federation demanded tougher measures to punish the player and avoid such incidents in the future. We hope that the question will quickly find an objective solution“. Another press release published over the last weekend ensures that the president of the Azerbaijan federation, Ogtay Asadov, spoke with his Russian counterpart, Shamil Tarpischev (also a member of the IOC). “ As the Azerbaijan Tennis Federation, we hope that these attacks will never happen again, and we expect Karen Khachanov to be punished for these actions“, insists the press release.
