‘Sorry’ Novak Djokovic falls on his own sword; tests COVID-19 positive

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Image Courtesy: Reuters/Business Standard

First it was Grigor Dimitrov. Then, Borna Ćorić joined hands as the COVID-19 positive players who took part in the recent charity tennis tournament in Serbia and Croatia last week. Now, the host of the event himself, Novak Djokovic, has been found to have contracted the virus, as both the world no. 1 is apologising for the blunder. Unfortunately, the damage is already done.

Image Courtesy: Reuters/Business Standard

Djokovic’s charity tournament, named Adria Tour hosted in Belgrade, Serbia and Zadar, Croatia had some of the biggest names of the sport join up for a two day event, which had absolutely none of the necessary restrictions or social distancing guidelines.

Following the positive result Dimitrov, Djokovic’s brother and the the director of the event Djordje called to put all the participants through testing. Now, following Ćorić, the iconic Serbian tennis star is the third positive case from the event.

Both Djokovic and his wife Jelena have contracted the virus, as they found after going through test immediately after returning to Serbia as the final on Sunday was cancelled after Dimitrov’s test.

“The moment we arrived in Belgrade we went to be tested. My result is positive, just as Jelena’s, while the results of our children are negative,” Djokovic confirmed on Tuesday afternoon.

“I am extremely sorry for each individual case of infection,” the 33 year old openly apologised in his statement, “I hope that it will not complicate anyone’s health situation and that everyone will be fine.”

While the threat from the pandemic in both Croatia and Serbia have lowered in recent times, the chance of a contamination is always prevalent, and not waiting until the official resumption of tennis in August, has been a huge oversight.

“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,”  the 17 times Grand Slam winner added.

In addition to Djokovic, Dimitrov and Ćorić, the tournament also saw participation from  Marin Čilić, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev and so on. All of them will be undergoing tests, and only trime will tell how many of them, if not all of them are also COVID-19 positive.

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