Tennis Australia reminds players of not playing in Russia after reports of Thanasi Kokkinakis participating in exhibition event

Tennis Australia has once again reminded players not to participate in any exhibition events in Russia. The development came after a recent report published in a local media outlet’s report revealed that Thanasi Kokkinakis participated in an exhibition competition in Russia during the off-season.

The Sydney Herald reported that the competition was played from November 29 to December 01 in St. Petersburg. Tennis Australia, in a statement, once again reminded players of not participating in an exhibition event in Russia and also cleared that Kokkinakis was also warned about not participating in the competition, but he worked against it.

"For several years, Tennis Australia has publicly and privately supported Ukraine athletes and sought and abided by federal government policy and recommendations in regard to Russia. This support and compliance continues," the Tennis Australia statement said in the statement. “We advise athletes against competing in Russia and are in ongoing discussions with DFAT to provide education to players about the potential ramifications for doing business in this area.”

The statement confirmed the organisation’s policy, which had been in place since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. The conflict started back in 2022 and has already resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives on both sides. Kokkinakis has been under the scanner for participating in exhibition events during the off-season.

Former doubles world number one Todd Woodbridge, during the ongoing Australian Open, criticised Kokkinakis for participating in exhibition events during the off-season. The legendary tennis star stated that in his opinion, such competitions affected Kokkinakis’ participation for the first Grand Slam of the year.

“Scheduling is a really interesting thing with him,” said Woodbridge. “He has to think hard about what he’s going to do to get the best tennis career out of himself. At the back end of the year he’s played Challengers and then he went and played exhibition matches that he didn’t need to do. Yes the money’s great and we all love putting that in our pocket and that’s exactly what he did, but that schedule hurts to start the year.”