|
World No. 1 has been accused of acting irresponsibly after he along
with Viktor Troicki, Grigor Dimitrov and Borna Coric tested positive for
coronavirus during the Adria Tour organised by him
|
Belgrade(Agencies): Novak
Djokovic has accused critics of subjecting him to a "witch-hunt"
after his regional Adria Tour tennis event ended in a novel coronavirus fiasco
and said he was still uncertain whether he would play at the August
31-September 13 US Open.
Images and videos of the
players hugging at the net, playing basketball together and partying at the
tournament were posted on social media.
World No. 1 Djokovic, fellow
Serb Viktor Troicki, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Croatian Borna Coric all tested
positive for the virus and the event had to be called off.
Djokovic, who tested positive
for COVID-19 after the Adria Tour's second leg in Croatia, pulled no punches in
slamming his peers and pundits who said he was irresponsible to stage the event
amid the pandemic.
"I can only see criticism
lately and much of it is malicious," Djokovic told Wednesday's issue of
Serbia's daily Sportski Zurnal.
"It's obviously more than
just criticism, it's like an agenda and a witch-hunt are on. Someone has to take
the fall, a big name,” he said.
"I still haven't decided
whether I will play in the U.S. Open, the upsurge in registered COVID-19 cases
in the United Staes and New York in particular are not playing into the event's
hands," added Djokovic who was back in training on Tuesday with Troicki.
Djokovic tested negative after
the second test he took last week and, having conceded after the failed
tournament that it came too soon, he reiterated that he had acted in good
faith.
"My intention was pure, I
was whole-heartedly committed to organising a humanitarian event to help
players and tennis federations in the (Balkan) region," he said.
"We complied with all the
laws and regulations. But we've learned our lessons and some things could have
probably been done in a different way."
The first leg in Belgrade held
on June 13 and 14 with no social distancing rules in place drew a sell-out
4,000 crowd and as many fans turned up in Zadar's Visnjik tennis complex with a
capacity of 9,000 a week later.
Fans in Zadar were ordered by
the Croatian government to stay two metres apart but the final, due to feature
Djokovic and Russian Andrey Rublev, was called off after Dimitrov tested
positive for the virus.
The remaining two legs in
Montenegro and Bosnia were scrapped. Reuters
No comments:
Post a Comment