Watch: Umpires kick out a woman with Ukraine Flag during Cincinnati masters match

A woman with a Ukrainian flag around her shoulders was kicked out of a match between two Russian players. This happened during a qualifying round for the Cincinnati Masters. Anna Kalinskaya registered a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Anastasia Potapova but the controversy began when one of the players complained about a woman in the crowd who had a flag and a Ukrainian floral crown. She was then asked to leave the venue.

The woman, as per tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg, was a local resident named Lola and was silently watching the match before the incident happened. The umpire Morgane Lara confronted Lola and said it was “not nice” to sit with the flag. Lola replied it is “not nice to invade a country”. Rothenberg then tweeted how the security marshal “then became aggressive with Lola, telling her that she had to leave the court or he would call the police”.

Watch the video here:

Watching the communist @WTA at work was something…they made her leave for silently protesting the Russian Invasion. @CincyTennis @TheDolgo pic.twitter.com/prUzMpLmyC

— Trashy Tennis (@TrashyTennis) August 14, 2022

He added: “Other spectators nearby at Court 8 quickly came to Lola’s defence, saying she wasn’t doing anything wrong or saying anything disruptive. She was just sitting there with her flag. They mentioned free speech, ‘land of the free’, etc, but the marshal was unmoved.”

Lola then reportedly left on her own and was approached by the tournament’s head of security who explained to her that the flag was too big. A tournament spokesman reacting to this incident said, “Per the Western & Southern Open’s bag policy, as stated on the tournament’s website, flags or banners larger than 18 x 18 are prohibited.”

“Therefore, the patron was asked to remove the flag from the grounds and after doing so was allowed to remain at the tournament. Any inquiries about the chair umpire should be directed to the WTA Tour.”

Ever since the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, there have been talks of peace going on all around the world. Sports is considered one of the biggest platforms to put forward a message in front of the world. Lola chose a big sporting event to make her voice heard.