{"id":1792544,"date":"2026-02-25T16:30:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T13:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1792544"},"modified":"2026-02-25T16:30:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T13:30:36","slug":"wta-tour-addresses-technical-error-after-russian-flag-displayed-on-screen-during-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1792544","title":{"rendered":"WTA Tour addresses &#8216;technical error&#8217; after Russian flag displayed on screen during match"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">WTA Tour addresses \u2018technical error\u2019 after Russian flag displayed on screen during match<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/oli-dickson-jefford\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Oli Dickson Jefford                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"25 Feb 2026 4:30 PM\" data-ps-date=\"25 Feb 2026 4:30 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1772037036\"><br \/>\n                            25 Feb 2026 4:30 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/wta-tour-addresses-technical-error-russian-flag-displayed-screen-during-match\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to facebook\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a 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hover:!text-brand\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ftennis-news%2Fwta-tour-addresses-technical-error-russian-flag-displayed-screen-during-match\" aria-label=\"Share to flipboard\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"sm:hidden flex items-center space-x-5\">\n                        <a class=\"!text-share-icon hover:!text-share-icon-active flex items-center justify-center\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" aria-label=\"Follow Tennis365 on Google Search\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"WTA Tour addresses \u2018technical error\u2019 after Russian flag displayed on screen during match\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Oksana-Selekhmeteva-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Pictured: Oksana Selekhmeteva.\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                WTA Tour player Oksana Selekhmeteva.                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\">\n<p>The WTA Tour has claimed that a \u201ctechnical error\u201d led to the Russian flag being displayed on screen during a match, denying suggestions that they had reversed their decision to ban players competing under the flag.<\/p>\n<p>While several sports barred both Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, both the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/wta-tour\">WTA<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/atp-tour\">ATP Tours<\/a> decided not to suspend such athletes.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, athletes from the two nations are still allowed to compete, but must compete as neutrals \u2014 with Russian and Belarusian players officially playing under no flag in both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s games.<\/p>\n<p>The two tours have remained consistent with this position since it was introduced in March 2022, and at times, Russian and Belarusian flags have been removed from spectators in the stands at various tennis events.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Russian flag appeared on screen during an ATX Open match between Russia\u2019s Oksana Selekhmeteva and America\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/alycia-parks\">Alycia Parks<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Images from the WTA Tour world feed show that, while Parks had the US flag next to her name, Selekhmeteva also had the Russian flag displayed next to hers.<\/p>\n<div>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-221683 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HB6CSlFW0AAe_Md.jpg\" alt=\"A screenshot from a WTA broadcast feed showing the Russian flag next to Oksana Selekhmeteva's name.\" width=\"680\" height=\"354\"><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption caption-221683\" style=\"margin-top:-8px\">\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\"> Pictured: A screenshot from Oksana Selekhmeteva\u2019s match against Alycia Parks at the ATX Open.<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p>World No 76 Selekhmeteva defeated Parks 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the second round of the WTA 250 event, where she will next face Kamilla Rakhimova \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/tennis-stars-who-stopped-representing-russia-start-of-ukraine-war\">who is one of several ex-Russian players to change their sporting nationality in recent years<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Images of the Russian flag appearing on the broadcast feed caused confusion online, with several questioning if the WTA Tour had decided to reinstate neutral athletes to their nationality.<\/p>\n<h2>Tennis News<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/craig-tiley-united-states-tennis-association-announcement-australian-open-blow-confirmed\">Australian Open blow confirmed as United States Tennis Association makes big announcement<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/alex-eala-absolute-rock-star-popularity-bigger-aryna-sabalenka-coco-gauff\">\u2018Absolute rock star\u2019 Alex Eala named the \u2018biggest draw in women\u2019s tennis\u2019 over Sabalenka and Gauff<\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, <em>Punto de Break<\/em> journalist Jose Moron has now revealed that the WTA have clarified this as an error, revealing on Twitter\/X that he had contacted the organisation for clarification.<\/p>\n<p>He wrote (translated from Spanish): \u201cUPDATE.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve just confirmed with the WTA that their policy of not displaying the Russian flag hasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the flag was seen in any match (or the Ukrainian flag wasn\u2019t), it was due to a technical error. Everything will remain the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The error comes at a particularly notable time, with Tuesday (February 24) having marked the fourth anniversary of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Tensions in tennis remain high, particularly on the WTA Tour, where there is a prominent group of Ukrainian players competing.<\/p>\n<p>The likes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/elina-svitolina\">Elina Svitolina<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/marta-kostyuk\">Marta Kostyuk<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/dayana-yastremska\">Dayana Yastremska<\/a> have been vocal in addressing the conflict and do not shake hands with either Russian or Belarusian players following the conclusion of tour matches.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as <a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read Next<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/wta-indian-wells-entry-list-2026\">WTA Indian Wells 2026 Entry List: Sabalenka, Swiatek, Rybakina, Gauff star; will Eala be seeded?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WTA Tour addresses \u2018technical error\u2019 after Russian flag displayed on screen during match Oli Dickson Jefford 25 Feb 2026 4:30 PM WTA Tour player Oksana Selekhmeteva. The WTA Tour has claimed that a \u201ctechnical error\u201d led to the Russian flag being displayed on screen during a match, denying suggestions that they had reversed their decision [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-1792544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1792544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1792544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1792544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1792544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1792544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1792544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}