Novak Djokovic and his wife Jelena have tested negative for COVID-19, nine days after returning a positive test, the world number one tennis player’s media team said on Thursday.
Djokovic, along with Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki, tested positive after playing in the Adria Tour, an exhibition tournament organised by the 17-times Grand Slam champion.
“Novak Djokovic and his wife Jelena tested negative for COVID-19, as the most recent test they took in Belgrade showed. They felt no symptoms of the virus and took the test after consultations with the doctors,” the statement said.
“They spent the past 10 days in self-isolation upon returning from Zadar (in Croatia), having adhered to all COVID-19 protocols and safety measures.”
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) June 23, 2020
The tournament witnessed packed stands during the opening leg staged at Djokovic’s tennis complex in Belgrade from June 13-14, with players hugging at the net, playing basketball, posing for pictures and attending press conferences together.
The second leg was held in Zadar from June 20-21.
The players did not break any Serbian or Croatian government protocols, as neither country required the athletes to maintain any social distancing
However, Djokovic, who was heavily criticised for staging the event, issued an apology, saying he was extremely sorry for the harm that had been caused.
Serbia has over 15,000 registered cases and 287 deaths due to the pandemic.
Djokovic event lacked bit of common sense
Novak Djokovic’s intentions in organising the ill-fated Adria Tour were good but the world number one could have applied a bit more common sense to how the exhibition event was run, former ATP players’ council head Vijay Amritraj has told Reuters.
Indian Amritraj told Reuters that while the world number one’s intentions were “absolutely correct”, and that he had followed local government protocols, he should have went the extra mile to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved.
“In hindsight, yes, obviously he could have taken a lot more precautions before running the event,” the 66-year-old television pundit told Reuters by telephone from Los Angeles.
“In spite of certain local government mandates, I think it is critical to follow some common sense.”
Djokovic has apologised and admitted it was probably “too soon” to run the event, which was played in front of packed stands in Belgrade.
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) June 23, 2020
Djokovic criticised
Nick Kyrgios, two-times Grand Slam quarter-finalist says, “Prayers up to all the players that have contracted COVID-19. Don’t @ me for anything I’ve done that has been ‘irresponsible’ or classified as ‘stupidity’ – this takes the cake,” the Australian wrote on Twitter.
Andy Murray, former world number one says, “Obviously it’s not surprising how many players have tested positive when you see the scenes and the images and the videos from the tournament and the players party with no social distancing in place.”
“I’ve seen some people say this puts the US Open in doubt but the measures and the protocols they have in place are completely different to what was going on in Serbia and Croatia.
“For a start, there will be no fans and the players will now know we can all be affected by this, it doesn’t matter who you are, we need to respect the rules,” Murray said at the ‘Battle of Brits’ tournament.
Martina Navratilova, 59-times Grand Slam champion says, “Yikes this is not good and it’s a pattern. Hope Novak will be ok of course! What now, US Open? Roland Garros? We have a lot of work to do,” she wrote on Twitter.
Patrick McEnroe, former doubles champion and commentator says, “When I sent out a tweet a couple weeks ago about that event in Serbia I said yeah it looks like a normal tennis event to me. I’m not sure everyone got my point,” he said in a video also on Twitter.
“Maybe they are starting to get it now. Nothing’s foolproof so don’t be foolish. That’s my message.”
ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi says, “Obviously we feel sorry for the players. We want them to recover as soon as possible,” he told the New York Times.
“I know there has been a lot of criticism, but on the other hand, we at the ATP, the USTA, and everybody, we have to be careful because we also have to be conscious that even with extreme measures, you could actually end up having some players testing positive.
“You don’t need players and people hugging each other for someone to test positive. So we’re all running the risk.”
