A couple of months–or maybe even just one week ago–news of Novak Djokovic being diagnosed with the coronavirus would have been alarming, perhaps even shocking. On Tuesday, however, it was nothing short of expected.
The Adria Tour in Belgrade and Zadar featured thousands of fans and very little–if any–social distancing. In the aftermath of what was already perceived as a reckless endeavor, Grigor Dimitrov was the first participant to test positive. That happened on Sunday, and both Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki were not not far behind. Troicki’s wife has it, as well.
Djokovic returned to Serbia without getting tested. He was tested on Monday night and the results came back on Tuesday afternoon. To the surprise of no one, the world No. 1 did in fact test positive–as did his wife, Jelena. He confirmed the results on his social media channels.
“It was all born with a philanthropic idea, to direct all raised funds toward people in need and it warmed my heart to see how everybody strongly responded to this,” Djokovic said of the Adria Tour. “We organized the tournament at the moment when the virus has weakened, believing that the conditions for hosting the Tour had been met.
“Unfortunately, this virus is still present, and it is a new reality that we are still learning to cope and live with. I am hoping things will ease with time so we can all resume lives the way they were. I am extremely sorry for each individual case of infection. I hope that it will not complicate anyone’s health situation and that everyone will be fine.”
The final of the Zadar leg was called off on Sunday. There were supposed to be two more stops on the Adria Tour, but those have obviously been cancelled.
thoughts?
“Everyone” will NOT be fine! Covid 19 spreads like wild fire and a certain percentage of those infected as a result of this very poor decision will suffer very bad effects and even death.
As for Djokovic “not knowing” then WTF did he donate 1 mil euros for ventilators for Serbia a couple of weeks ago? Because he thought the virus had gone away? Seriously? Talk about magical thinking! Or was he just competing with Fed’s and Nadal’s donations to their respective countries?
Sorry, I don’t mean to keep dumping on Djokovic – plenty of others are doing that. I just get upset when people act illogically.
Ramara is a Nick Kygrios wannabe
and Ad-rock don’t believe in wearing masks and is probably anti-vax. I wonder which alternative is better.
doesn’t*
Hahaha! Just because she criticises Djokovic she is NK incarnate?
Whole army of NKs out there right now..including Andy Murray..
Yes when it comes to players, and fans of players, this isn’t about like or dislike, to be honest as talented as he is, I never liked Kyrigios, but I digress, its about the safety of the players on tour, he probably could’ve worded things better( he never was very articulate) but in this instance he has a valid point ….
Let me be fair to Djokovic for once. The Serbian Government relaxed the social distance protocol before their general elections which took place on 21st June in order to give voters a feel good factor to get re-elected which it was. I would even guess that Djokovic was encouraged by the government to stage the Adria Tour just like encouraging football and other sporting events to resume under normal circumstances in Serbia. Some of the Serbian football players have also tested positive since.
This is where I part company with Djokovic. He shouldn’t have been so gullible. He went too far with social mingling. There was no need for the footie and basketball least of all the the nightclubing. For someone who is ultra particular about health, he should have been more cautious. The other players should also have behaved more responsibly.
The Djokovic family were wallowing in the glory of the Adria Tour with their youngest son also the Tournament Director in Belgrade. Once things started going pear-shaped, they started dumping on Grigor as the super spreader who took the virus into their country, claiming that they had done all they could to ensure the safety of all concerned.
I hope they all get better soon. You never know where this virus is going to end.
This virus is going to affect our lives for a long time, imo. One bad sign, not much discussed, is that mild infections (those with mild to no symptoms) do not seem to produce much immunity. There are plenty of cases of people getting C-19 twice, and that will only increase as it starts to spread. Second, people are hanging their hopes on a vaccine as if it’s some sort of magic bullet that will arrive some time next year. The history of many vaccinations suggests otherwise, and that’s not even taking into account the people (like Djokovic) who refuse to get vaccinated and the many more people in poor countries who will probably have to wait a long time before they can get one.
First things first: I want to apologize for a comment I made a while ago after Indian Wells had been cancelled. I believed back then that the danger of covid-19 had been exaggerated a lot and that it wasn’t much more dangerous than the annual flue which also claims many victims each year. It has become abundantly clear since then that this is unfortunately not true for roughly 20% of the population who belong to certain risk groups because of their arvanced age or other underlying health problems. And they can become gravely ill or even die. I am actually a member of this risk group because I have a long history of often severe bacterial lung infections which started when I was still a kid. After seeing what happened in Italy, I have changed my mind a while ago, although I was just voicing the opinions of most leading German experts – who have also changed their minds drastically since then. It’s actually a very interesting phenomenon that the authorities and experts of almost every country in the world initially played down the danger and only changed their minds and course of action when the virus crossed the borders and started to wreck havoc in their respective countries. I am sure that future scientists will study this baffling phenomenon!
Germany has been praised for having one of the lowest death rates. This is true insofar as we have a very well working public health system which could adequately handle the severe cases. And the overall health of our population is also above average because our health care is very good. But the German authorities were dangerously reluctant at first to implement swiftly certain necessary safety rules. Even the notoriously raucous Carneval season with many wild parties in closed rooms and open air was allowed to procede as usual. Many of our early infection chains could’ve easily been avoided or extinguished with a few effective safety measures. If that had happened, we might not even have needed the far more drastic lockdown.
I fully agree with you, Joe, that we will have to learn to live with this virus for much longer than most people are ready to admit at the moment. Like you I am also a bit pessimistic as far as the quick availability of a safe and effective vaccine is concerned. So far there has never been an effective vaccine for any coronavirus, and we all know that the annual flu shots are often hit-and-miss affairs which don’t protect from all circulating mutations of the newest edition of the flu virus. And since we can’t keep up most of the current restrictions indefinitely without severely hurting our economies and our social structures, we have to find a way to live with the virus without neglecting the protection of our risk groups. And this can only work if everybody develops a reasonable amount of responsibility and common sense.
But Djokovic and those who organized the so-called Adria Tour have totally thrown resposibility and common sense overboard! The much maligned Kyrgios got it right for once! They were bone headed idiots! They neglected 10 out of 10 safety rules and bragged about it! They may not have harbored evil intentions but their behavior is inexcusable nevertheless! And the biggest problem aren’t even the infected players and their entourages. They belong to a privileged, wealthy and healthy group of people, and it’s unlikely that anyone of them will become seriously ill. But they have probably greatly facilitated the spread of the virus amongst many other people who came to the Adria Tour. Djokovic et al. may have started many new infection chains, and the infected players are probably only the visible tip of the iceberg, especially since a lot of travelling to different locations took place. It’s very probable that some folks who have been infected or will be infected in due course, belong to a risk group and are not in such a privileged situation!
The only positive aspect of this sorry affair is that it might have demonstrated very publicly that the virus is still very much present amongst us and that international sport events can only happen if there are rigid safety rules in place!
Postscriptum: Sasha Zverev promised to go into a voluntary two-week seclusion because he had close contact with some of the infected persons. But he was caught partying AGAIN this weekend in Monaco! This really takes the cake!!! And I realize again why I have never liked Zverev, although he is and will be the best and most talented German player for a long time to come. But his often questionable behavior cannot be excused indefinitely with a hint at his young age!
As far as the Djoker is concerned: right now I am through with him! He never was my favorite player for many reasons. But I always thought that privately he is probably a very nice and also a very intelligent person. If I look back at the last few months I start to question these assumptions, since he has uttered so much garbage lately. And his entourage hasn’t behaved much better! Djokovic is of course entitled to have certain opinions. But as one of the prominent faces of pro tennis he should be very careful about voicing certain opinions publicly – especially since he clearly has a very compromised relationship with the natural sciences. I will forgive him when he manages to turn water into wine by including the water jug into his bedtime prayers! I dislike intensely his messianic delusions. He and his family seem to believe that he is entitled to be wildly successful or even become the GOAT eventually because The Almighty has chosen him over all other players! And I think this is absolutely offensive because it implies that all the other players are aren’t as divinely blessed!
Ok, I am through! Let’s hope that every infected person will recover speedily – including Novak!
And I would like to force every one of these spoiled and irresponsible kids to read E.A. Poe’s narrative “The Mask Of The Red Death”. It’s very short and can even be managed by those who have the attention span of the proverbial goldfish! It’s about privileged and rich folks who don’t want to give up the good life and their parties while a pandemic wrecks havoc amongst the less lucky folks – but the Red Death doesn’t care and finds rich and poor alike! The story is available for free in the internet!
I’ve never much liked Djokovic but considering his parents…seriously, how could he have turned out much differently? He’s absolutely desperate to win at any cost, and to win hearts and minds as well as tennis matches. Roger has come to terms with not having the record number of slams and is a happy man. Rafa “would love to have the most” but he’s not losing sleep over it and he’ll be very happy with his career when he retires. Rafa was either born to be happy or he acquired the ability early in life. He believes that as long as he does his best that’s enough. After that you can win or lose and, anyway, it’s only tennis and there’s so many more important things.
As for coronavirus, the human race has outlived many plagues. This one’s annoying but we’ll beat it too, with more or less grace…it’s looking like less grace at this point, sadly.
The USA is full of nitwits, but even the Trump toadies among the governors are listening to medical wisdom when presented with dying voters on their watch. They all have relatives that vote! And Trump isn’t a dictator yet, although I’m not ruling out that he’ll try come Inauguration Day.
https://vod-eurosport.akamaized.net/nogeo/2020/06/21/5232995_1_af029e5d7483fdfa83600fc2857d36e0_1080i50ESSENCE_21095342-1322254-2300-1024-576.mp4
Thanks Nadaline, I think that’s a balanced view. I am a huge djokovic fan and am used to the majority criticizing him regardless of what he does.
He clearly did a lot of things that were not smart at the Adria tour but the intentions were good. And I am all for a safe (as safe as possible) restart for sports across the world. Which will of course mean some unavoidable spread of coronavirus
https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp-video/mmvo85905989823?fbclid=IwAR3ZqARQuLQDfArYkvmny9YnAVQmdT12Zw73T-iNE-Wu9FiWBmqg_34BnP0&__twitter_impression=true
One more positive test.
Goran Ivanisevic, director of the Zadar leg of the Adria Tour, announced on Friday that he tested positive for COVID-19:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CB5TaK8p77a/
I add to my post AT 11:47 AM that Goran Ivanisevic is also Djoko’s coach.
Just don’t know if we have anything to gain by playing the “blame” game…..the virus is definitely in charge….everyone be smart, wear a mask, and stay safe!
And the driver who was transporting the tennis players during the Adria Tour in Zadar was tested positive for COVID-19:
https://twitter.com/RAFAaddicted/status/1276500211129561093
The list of players infected with the virus continues to grow.
Two players who played at Eastern European Championship (exho event at Janko Tipsarevic’s academy in Belgrade) tested positive for COVID-19. The infected players are Tomislav Brkić (from Bosnia & Herzegovina) and Matej Šabanov (Croatia):
https://www.b92.net/sport/tenis/vesti.php?yyyy=2020&mm=06&dd=27&nav_id=1700795
About 35 players participated in the Championship, among them 3 men who also played on the Adria Tour: Dusan Lajovic, Filip Krajinovic and Damir Dzumhur:
https://twitter.com/TheTennisTalker/status/1275694058137096198
Seems Rafa is in some doubt to play the US Open. He has confirmed he’ll play Madrid which starts the day after the USO ends.
Given America’s covid situation they should really just cancel/postpone the USO anyway.
My guess is Rafa will play Madrid, possibly Rome, maybe depending on how well Madrid goes, then RG. Carlos Moya has stated that he thought Rafa would want to play everything, but he planned a team-sitdown where they would all shower Rafa with cold water until he saw reason. Not sure how or if the new “covid” points system will affect that. I’ve been expecting an article from Ricky on it, but maybe I should just go read up on the ATP’s write-up.
Thinwhiteduke I agree ,many players are having the same doubts, Simona Halep feels the same, Serena cant wait to play, all because shes hell bent on tying Margret Court, really think some things are way more important ….