Taro Daniel and Novak Djokovic's departure: ex-professionals defend the Serb
A photo of Novak Djokovic appeared on Instagram on Thursday, showing him leaving the United States - even before the Miami Open was canceled. Taro Daniel criticized this on Twitter, with Lindsay Davenport and Paul Annacone , two former professionals are now behind the Serbs.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Mar 14, 2020, 09:18 pm
Last Thursday, of course, the news was that the ATP tour to fight the coronavirus was interrupted for six weeks, which put everything in the shade. It had already been hinted the day before that SkySport Italy had reported the cancellation of the Miami Open, and other absolutely reliable sources spoke of the six-week break that was supposed to be a matter of decision. So it was: the next day, Thursday, the Association of Tennis Professionals confirmed that the virus-fighting tour would be interrupted, and that all tournaments could not take place as planned. A message that spread like wildfire.
A decision that was also made in exchange with the Players Council, chaired by Novak Djokovic. On Thursday, a photo of Marco Panichi, his Serbs fitness coach, appeared on Instagram that Team Djokovic showed at the airport before leaving for Europe. The piquancy of the matter: The ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami had not yet been canceled. A fact that Taro Daniel, current number 112 in the world rankings, did not quite fit into the stuff: "Novak Djokovic therefore left the United States before any tournament was canceled or postponed to Indian Wells. What information am I missing?" Wrote the Japanese Twitter.
American tennis professional Noah Rubin was also anything but pleased: "In this world it is customary to grope in the dark. Let us continue to tell a select few what happens while the others can only guess," said Rubin's cynical comment Twitter. With Paul Annacone and Lindsay Davenport, two former players now stand behind Novak Djokovic: "I have the secret suspicion that he, as the President of the Player Council, will be the first to know when the decision was made," Annacone told the Tennis Channel. Lindsay Davenport, the world's number one for 98 weeks, also defends the Serb. You have to understand that players can also make personal decisions.
"We don't know exactly when everything was decided and when he knew it, but the players have the right to decide what they want to do. He also has two young children at home, I'm sure that was a burden on him," Davenport continues. Taro Daniel has no complaints about the decision itself: "I'm sorry, but I think it is the right decision. In the current situation, it is dangerous to continue participating in the tournament all over the world," the Japanese wrote on Twitter . However, his criticism would never have been aimed at Novak Djokovic anyway, "my complaint relates more to the structure that informed us only 30 minutes ago than there was a massive travel ban more than 12 hours ago," stated Taro Daniel.