Belgrade (AFP)
Strongly criticized for organizing a tennis tournament in which several players, including himself, caught the Covid-19, Novak Djokovic donated more than 40,000 euros to a Serbian city hit hard by the pandemic, reported on Wednesday several media.
World number 33, donated the money to Novi Pazar in southwestern Serbia to help deal with an increasing number of coronavirus cases, sports channel SportKlub reported TV on its website. The city declared a state of emergency in late June.
After having mastered a first wave of the epidemic at the beginning of May, Serbia is now reporting a new outbreak, registering more than 200 new cases per day, compared to around 50 a month ago.
Believing it was out of the woods, the country had allowed Djokovic to organize a charity tournament, which started in Belgrade in mid-June, before a series of coronavirus infections forced the organizers to stop it.
Besides Djokovic, three other tennis players - Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki - who participated in the Adria Tour, as well as the coach of the Serbian, Goran Ivanisevic, were tested positive for the coronavirus. Djokovic's wife Jelena has also contracted the virus.
The tournament was held in disregard of any safety rule in front of several thousand supporters: the players had kissed over the net, played basketball and even danced in a nightclub in Belgrade.
Djokovic then said he was "deeply sorry" that the tournament "caused harm".
Serbia, which has a population of around 7 million, has recorded almost 15,000 cases of coronavirus and around 280 deaths.
© 2020 AFP