Dominic Thiem on Adriatic scandal: "Were too optimistic"
Dominic Thiem spoke for the first time about the events in Belgrade and Zadar and expressed his regret.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Jun 25, 2020, 11:39 am
He was "shocked" when he got the news of the Adria Tour, Thiem wrote on Thursday morning on Instagram.
They played for weeks without an audience and were accordingly "more than happy" to see fans in the stadium again. "We trusted the Serbian government's Corona regulations, but we were too optimistic. Our behavior was a mistake, we were too euphoric. I am extremely sorry."
He had been tested five times in the past ten days and the result was always negative.
"I wish everyone who is infected the best and a speedy recovery," Thiem concluded.
As part of the Adriatic tour by Novak Djokovic , Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric, Victor Troicki and Djokovic were infected with COVID-19.
The event had already received massive criticism at its first stop in Belgrade when the players posed in crowds and celebrated in a nightclub.
Thiem in action again today
Thiem's manager Herwig Straka had blamed Novak Djokovic as the main culprit in an interview on Thursday and saw no reason to apologize for his protégé Thiem.
They had received the regulations two days before the event, according to which only 1,000 fans would have come to the stadium and social distancing was mandatory.
In retrospect, it was clear "that it was nonsense," said Straka. The honorable sense of holding a charity tournament was initially in the foreground, "but it went in the wrong direction and was misused as a publicity show. Djokovic has to be blamed for that."
While most of Dominic Thiem's colleagues, who tested negative, went into voluntary quarantine at home, such as Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic, the third place in the world rankings will open several times in the coming days. Today in the semifinals at the Generali Austrian Pro Series , on Saturday at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown in Nice and then at the show tournament in Berlin.