Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Israeli tennis player defiantly wears yellow ribbon at Australian Open

The gesture follows the event organizers’ ban on wearing a yellow pin calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Lina Glushko
Lina Glushko wears a yellow ribbon in her hair ahead of a match in Auckland, New Zealand, on Jan. 6, 2024. Photo courtesy of the Israeli Tennis Association.

Israeli tennis player Lina Glushko wore a yellow ribbon in her hair to an international match in Australia after organizers forbade her from wearing a pin, which organizers considered a political statement, during the competition, Israel’s Channel 14 reported on Tuesday.

Glushko’s move during a qualifying match for the Australian Open followed protests against her at a previous tournament in New Zealand. Protesters opposed the presence of Glushko, a former IDF soldier, at the 2025 ASB Classic in Auckland and briefly interrupted the matches.

In New Zealand, Glushko, ranked 207th in the world, lost a match to four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, ending her participation in the tournament.

Glushko will not compete in the Australian Open main draw after losing her match to Léolia Jeanjean 1-6, 6-2, 6-1.

“In many of the countries that have Holocaust envoys or antisemitism envoys, you have to empower them to be able to do something to be effective,” the U.S. special envoy on Jew-hatred told reporters. “You can’t neuter them.”
Of the 6,000 Gazans who invaded the country on Oct. 7, 2023, 4,000 have been eliminated, said Israel Katz.
Israel’s Tax Authority confirmed it had received a list of foreign flight crews, but only checked them for criminal status.
The Jewish state lowered its flags to half-staff at 6:29 a.m. to launch commemorations honoring fallen soldiers and victims of the 2023 assault.