Adriatic tour: was Novak Djokovic deceived?
Novak Djokovic is heavily criticized after the COVID-19 infections as part of his Adriatic tour. An epidemiologist now claims that Djokovic was fooled by the state.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Jun 28, 2020, 10:16 am
Djokovic had run his tournament on the advice of experts, now he is on the pillar of shame, said the epidemiologist Dr. Zoran Radovanovic opposite the Serbian channel nova.rs.
"Djokovic is our brand," said Radovanovic. "He is a smart young man and he would never have ventured on such an adventure if he had not been deceived." Djokovic had been informed that the epidemiological situation was under control. He was therefore the victim of political fraud. "It turned out to be naive that he trusted the state." Djokovic was walking on thin ice, because the situation was of course much worse than he had been credited with. "He couldn't imagine that our authorities would deceive him. He acted on the advice of experts and authorities and they cheated on him."
Djokovic and Co. had received great criticism especially for their party in a nightclub - in Serbia, however, many singers had made their appearances in clubs in the past few weeks, with several hundred spectators. These are not as criticized as Djokovic. Radonovic said it was important for the state to organize the tournament, Serbia sacrificed Djokovic and the visitors. "They wanted to score politically through Djokovic and didn't think that they could endanger other players and the public."
Yastremska and Vekic face Djokovic
In addition to Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Victor Troicki, Djokovic had tested positive for COVID-19 , all of which are currently in quarantine. The first in the world rankings had received powerful criticism on the first weekend in Belgrade when the first photos appeared while playing football, hugs and group photos. Djokvovic dismissed these voices as criticism "primarily from the West" , since the situation in Serbia in terms of infection numbers was significantly better than in the rest of the world. As it became known afterwards, the official figures in Serbia were not correct.
Most recently, Dayana Yastremska and Donna Vekic had tried to take Djokovic out of the line of fire. Vekic had an appearance at the second station in Zadar / Croatia. It was hard to assess the situation in Serbia and Croatia because people would behave without restrictions, not just in tennis. "If you look around in restaurants and clubs, one is hanging on top of the other." The entire event was a charity campaign, "I feel bad that it turned out for him. He only had the best of intentions."