Belgrade (AFP)
Him too ! Novak Djokovic revealed on Tuesday that he was infected with the coronavirus on the sidelines of the Adria Tour, a charity tournament he organized in the Balkans in defiance of all health precautions.
This announcement puts an end to this festive rally around tennis, tarnishes the image of the world N.1 and risks altering the resumption of the ATP circuit in August.
"I am deeply sorry that our tournament may have caused such damage," said Novak Djokovic on Tuesday evening. "We were wrong, it was too early" to organize such a tournament, he added.
A few hours earlier, the winner of 17 titles in Frand Chelem had announced that, like Grigor Dimitrov (19th), Borna Coric (33th) and Viktor Troicki (184th), he was also positive for the new coronavirus.
"As soon as we arrived in Belgrade (from Zadar, Croatia, where the second stage of the tournament took place on Saturday and Sunday), we went to do tests. Mine and that of Jelena (his wife, editor's note) are positive Those of the children are negative, "said Djokovic, 33.
"Everything we have done for a month has been done with a pure heart and with sincere intentions", assures the Serb, stressing that the tournament had been organized "with the idea of helping tennis players in the region , to create conditions for them to play, for them to have income in order to more easily overcome this difficult period. "
Except that the Adria Tour, started in Belgrade, continued in Zadar and which was to end in Montenegro before its cancellation on Tuesday, it was also: a packed stadium in Belgrade, hardly a protective mask, players who give themselves hugs on the court, dine together without any precautions, go wild shirtless in a box (were notably noticed in this exercise Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov), play basketball and football without any contact restrictions ...
All of this was in accordance with local deconfinement guidelines. But result, besides the world N.1, were contaminated Dimitrov (19th), Coric (33rd) and Troicki (184th), while Alexander Zverev (7th), Andrey Rublev (14th) and Marin Cilic (37th) were tested negative. On the other hand, Dominic Thiem (3rd) who had participated in the fiesta of Belgrade, eclipsed before the avalanche for Nice, where he takes part in the competition of Patrick Mouratoglou, which also brings together notably Stefanos Tsitsipas (6th), Matteo Berrettini (8th), David Goffin (10th) and Benoît Paire (22nd).
- What recovery? -
Tested upon his arrival in Nice, Thiem received the green light to participate in the UTS of Mouratoglou, another exhibition gathering but behind closed doors. But the cascade effect generated by the unbridled behavior of some at the Adria Tour risks having an impact on the resumption of the professional ATP circuit scheduled from August 14 in Washington before the US Open (August 31-September 13 ).
Which players will be able to play? Which players will dare to take the risk of playing? What measures will the tournament organizers impose on them, knowing that those initially proposed for the US Open had been described as "extreme" by Djokovic before being slightly relaxed? Which players will accept these likely enhanced sanitary measures?
ATP, while wishing the affected people a speedy recovery, reacted on Tuesday by saying that it and other stakeholders had "developed comprehensive plans to mitigate the risks through a series of precautions and protocols" which will be implemented during the next ATP tournaments.
"We organized the tournament at the time when the virus had weakened, we thought that the conditions were met (...) I am sorry for each infected person", defends Djokovic by adding: "I hope that the number will not increase ".
But his excuses and justifications will not change anything, the attitude of mistrust towards the pandemic and the virus itself, will turn against him.
- Image deficit -
Especially since the Serb, who suffers from an image deficit compared to his two big rivals of the circuit Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, has chained polemical positions in recent months.
In addition to his anti-vaccine position, reaffirmed at the heart of the pandemic, the man with 17 Grand Slam titles also promoted on Instagram a person claiming to be able to purify water by thought and shone by his absence at the videoconference organized by ATP in early June to talk about the resumption of the circuit, frozen since March. Some 400 players participated, but not him, their main representative as president of the Players' Council ...
Djokovic's colleagues generally did not accept this absence, which untied critical languages. While the result of his test was awaited, the American Tennys Sandgren had chambered the Serb on Twitter: "If Novak does not catch the Covid, I begin to bless my water with positive waves".
And immediately after the announcement of the positive test, Nick Kyrgios, very critical from the start on the conditions in which the Adria Tour took place and who seemed to be waiting for that, released: "Prayers for all the players who contracted the Covid-19. Don't mention me for what I could do was "irresponsible" or what could have been called "stupid".
© 2020 AFP