Updated 06/25/2020 at 12:36
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Adria Tour
The Balkan cluster that appeared on the sidelines of the tennis tournament organized by Novak Djokovic highlighted a general relaxation against the Covid-19.
Dominic Thiem, who participated in the Belgrade stage of the Adria Tour but had left the Balkans before the announcement of positive tests for coronavirus, regrets Thursday “an error” on the part of players who were “too optimistic” . “We trusted the coronavirus rules of the Serbian government, but we were too optimistic”, writes the world N.3 on Instagram, his first reaction since the announcement of the first positive case, that of the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (19th) Sunday.
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“Our behavior was a mistake, we acted with too much euphoria. I am extremely sorry, “adds the Austrian player, explaining this” euphoria “by the fact that the players had not faced each other in public” for weeks “and were therefore” more than happy to have fans at tournament”.
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The Adria Tour, a charity tournament organized on the initiative of Novak Djokovic in the Balkans, turned into a party without restraint and without barrier gestures in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. Especially in Belgrade where the stands of the court were full and the wearing of the mask almost ignored. The players did not hesitate to give each other hugs, mingle with the fans, go out to restaurants and nightclubs. All this, without contravening government measures in place at the time in the face of the disease.
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“I have been tested 5 times in the past 10 days”
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But four players, starting with Djokovic, were infected with the new coronavirus and the Adria Tour was immediately stopped Sunday before the final of the stage of Zadar (Croatia) which was to pit the world Serbian N.1 against the Russian Andrey Rublev (14th).
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For his part, Thiem had left the fiesta after Belgrade to go to the south of France where he participated in the Patrick Mouratoglou tournament (the Ultimate tennis showdown, UTS) with notably three other members of the World Top 10: the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (6th), Italian Matteo Berrettini (8th) and Belgian David Goffin (10th).
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“I have been tested five times in the past ten days and the results have been negative each time,” said Thiem in his message on Thursday.
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(AFP)
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