Srdjan Djokovic had been given the green light to attend the match at the Rod Laver Arena after footage emerged of him appearing with fans carrying the Russian flag featuring an image of the country’s President Vladimir Putin and a spectator wearing a T-shirt with a "Z" symbol on it.

Following the incident, Srdjan issued a statement, insisting that he had "no intention of being caught up" in the controversy as he distanced himself from the Putin fans and decided not to be in attendance for Novak’s semi-final victory over American Tommy Paul to ensure "there is no disruption".

Despite being permitted by Australian Open organisers to attend the final, Srdjan did not appear in the player’s box to see Novak beat Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6, 7-6 to win a record equalling 22nd Grand Slam title.

Speaking yesterday, tournament director Craig Tiley said it was up to Srdjan whether or not he attended the match.

"He didn’t breach any event policy," said Tiley.

"That's really important because what's been written about what he (allegedly) said hasn't been correct and I think people are back-tracking from that.

"That's unfortunate that massive assumptions were made.

"I know him personally and his family was devastated by what happened.

"It was not intentional and I agree with him and it was not designed to cause harm to anyone.

"It was an unfortunate situation and the Serbian fans have been great.

"Every day they've been very active and noisy and boisterous and that adds to the whole colour of the event.

"Then you've got two or three or, in this case, four individuals that ruined it and they got evicted and are not welcome back.

"Ideally he didn't get caught up in that but, in that moment, you don't know and that's unfortunate that that happened because we'r'e a platform, we're a global platform, and any little thing like that starts to take on a life of its own, which it didn't need to."

The national flags of Russia and Belarus were banned at the Australian Open as well as the former flags of the Russian Empire - mostly sporting black-and-yellow characteristics.

As well as these flags, the "Z" symbol - associated with the Russian military and as nationalist propaganda insignia in the country - had also been banned.

Novak also leaped to the defence of his father, insisting that there was "absolutely no intention whatsoever to support any kind of war initiatives or anything like that".

"It was unfortunate that the misinterpretation of what happened has escalated to such a high level," said Novak.

"There was, I would say, a lot of conversations with tournament director, with media and everyone else.

"It has got to me, of course, as well.

"I was not pleased to see that.

"My father, my whole family, and myself, have been through several wars during the 1990s.

"As my father put in a statement, we are against the war, we never will support any violence or any war.

"We know how devastating that is for the family, for people in any country that is going through the war."