Andrey Rublev approached the chair umpire over crowd behaviour.Credit:Getty
Rublev approached the chair umpire about the spectators who brought the flag into the venue,but insisted he had no issue with it.
Instead Rublev had taken exception to repeated comments aimed at him by those particular spectators.
A Tennis Australia spokesperson told this masthead that three patrons were later issued with a warning for disruptive behaviour and left shortly afterwards.
“I said straightaway to the referee,‘it’s not about the flag’,” Rublev told Associated Press.
“They can put any flag they want,I understand completely the situation. It was more that they started to tell me bad words and bad things.
“I said to the referee:‘It’s not about the flag,but please can you tell them at least to not say bad words when I’m on the changeover’.”