As we discussed yesterday, the Adria Tour was an absolute disaster. Novak Djokovic – the #1 men’s tennis player in the world and president of the ATP’s Player Council – organized an exhibition tour to play on three weekends in Belgrade, Serbia, Zadar, Croatia and Montenegro (the last country opted out a few weeks ago). Belgrade was two weekends ago, and that days-long adventure featured packed, maskless crowds, zero social distancing, no masks or gloves for staff, lots of hugging, sweating, dancing, drinking and basically a lot of “wtf are you doing, we’re in the middle of a g–damn pandemic.” It was the same this past weekend in Zadar. Only just before the final match on Sunday, Grigor Dimitrov – who left Zadar the day before because he was feeling unwell – announced that he tested positive for the coronavirus.
In the 24 hours that followed Dimitrov’s announcement, so much happened. All of the players of the Adria Tour – except for Djokovic – stayed in Croatia to get tested. Borna Coric tested positive, as did another Serbian player, while others (like Andrey Rublev, Marin Cilic) did not, but they all made a promise to go into isolation for 14 days, and they apologized for their behavior. Djokovic flew home to Serbia without being tested in Croatia because he said he wasn’t feeling symptoms (nevermind the fact that he seemed to be feeling ill during his matches on Saturday and Sunday). Well, guess what? Djokovic has tested positive for the virus. He released a statement:
I… would have more sympathy for Novak if he had organized any part of the tour with an eye towards sending the right message in a pandemic, or taken even baseline precautions for not only his own safety, but the safety of people working around the tour. Even though he clearly felt ill this past weekend, he still refused to be tested in Croatia and waited until he FLEW HOME to get a test. This whole thing is such a catastrophe for not just tennis, but all sports.
Again, this was one week ago:
Nightlife in Belgrade with Djokovic, Thiem, Zverev, Dimitrov, Serbian players.. 😁🔥🥳
Video: @hotsportsrb pic.twitter.com/Rf3gURzHng— THE JOKER(S) 🃏🇷🇸 (@NBASerbians) June 15, 2020
And now… add Novak and Jelena Djokovic to this list. And there are hundreds of people in Zadar currently getting tested and going into 14-day lockdowns.
People who got the virus because of the adria tour so far. have a funny feeling the number is probably gonna go up 😬😬 pic.twitter.com/k2kePg83Yb
— roger hand-washerer (@SharadaFedfan) June 22, 2020
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Getty.
Sorry but this is karma
My thought too.
I had a fight on social media yesterday, with an antivax, telling me he is perfectly healthy, and if I want I can poison myself with the vaccine. Today this.
I hate this guy so much.
Wow. Hate?
Yes, hate. He is the embodiment of everything that’s wrong with the world at the moment: rich, white, arrogant, ignorant, ready to risk other people’s lives for his ambitions. He might be doing it on a slightly smaller scale than others that shall remain unnamed here, but, given a chance, he most certainly wouldn’t think twice about how much destruction his reckless actions and words might cause.
@Tanguerita
You obviously don’t know much about where he came from, what he means to people in that part of the world and all the good he did for relationships in countries that were, not long ago, embedded in hateful war. If that is the person that is most deserving of your hate, you must live in a pretty perfect world.
Oh puh-lease. I grew up in Russia. I know everything one needs to know about poverty and drive, and war-torn mentalities. I stand by what i said. You can be a bad person that occasionally do a good thing. That doesn’t make you a good person though.
Sure. Hate on.
Isn’t he also an anti-vaxxer?
I think hate is justified for infecting his wife, not through ignorance but to feed his vanity.
Yeah he’s a disgusting anti vaxxor.
Yeah, I could never stand his ass! Glad he is getting his karma, but I’m relieved his wife and children tested negative for COVID-19!!
His wife also has it, only the children are, thankfully, fine – so far.
His wife is positive as well.
Hate is a strong word, but I am furious and completely devastated that my country bought into “Đoković can get everything because he will help our tourism”.
Karma is a phenomenal tool of life.
Is Jelena not his wife!
@Laalaa Unless he gets really really sick, it’s not karma, I’m afraid. Afterwards he will be able to say – it wasn’t all that bad, I don’t need a vaccine, all is well. Who cares about people who might actually die because of him? we will never know. It might be someone’s granddad, who lives in a village next to Zadar and has never heard of Djokovic before, or someone – anyone – he sneezed on on his way to the airport, because he couldn’t be arsed to get tested in Croatia.
Jelena has it too. She had previously been posting about how it is spread by 5G technology. I wonder if she still believes that now?
@ Tanguerita
Please cancel my subscription to your issues.
LOL @Mimmy
me too, i can’t stand him, he is so inauthentic.
@Tanguerita
Wow! hate as much as you like but wishing Novak, or anyone else to get seriously ill, for karma to be served speaks only of you.
learn to read. I’ve never said that.
No one is perfect and I certainly don’t agree with Novak’s opinions about vaccines but I wholeheartedly disagree with everything else you said. Everything he has he’s earned with his hard word, including his money. So what if he’s rich? Is being white and rich a reason to hate someone? He meant well with this tournament and I think most people know that. Btw I live in Zadar and I was at his match on Saturday, day before everything was cancelled. He’s a good guy and people respect him.
She never said she hated him because he’s white and rich. Never.
How difficult would it have been for him to require that people wear masks to enter the stadium? That would’ve been so easy! He took ZERO precautions for anyone’s health, so how is it that he “meant well?”
I hate him too. And I’m sick of people asking me to extend sympathy and kindness to those who treat everyone else with selfishness and disdain.
Yup, this is karma. And if anyone dies because of his selfish arrogance I hope he does too
Agree, he and the others thought they better than anyone else about this. White Male arrogance from the privilege he’s gotten all his life because he’s a white male
What a yutz.
Karma has big tennis balls….
A tennis excursion in the middle of a deadly pandemic. What could go wrong???? 🙄
Isn’t this the guy saying he would refuse to get the vaccine?
@lucy2 – yep
Yeah that’s him all right. Looks like the irony fairy caught him.
Sometimes, Karma comes through in a big way.
Hope they got in touch with all the people on the plane, private or not.
I mean… he’s an anti-vaccer…why would he follow guidelines from scientists. And if he survived he would probably still be sceptical because he managed to survive.
If he saw his children suffer maybe he would change his mindset.
What an absolute irresponsible idiot. “Philanthropic idea”? “Extremely sorry”? Are you kidding me? The selfishness is astounding. Cases in Croatia are surging again after the virus had all but disappeared, a five-year-old child has also tested positive in Zadar yesterday. I can’t with these morons.
Yes, number of cases in Croatia was zero. If number of cases in US was zero, do you think we would have tennis tournaments here and all other sports? Of course we would!
The moment country (Croatia) started opening, cases started rising – tourists are coming in, elections are planned in two weeks, cafes and restaurants are open and no one in Zagreb is wearing mask in the streets or anywhere else. I know of people who tested positive in last few days in Zagreb by being in contact with people who came from Austria and were non symptomatic (no more checkups at the borders). So, I agree that this tournament was irisponsible affair, but blame is not on Djokovic only.
I agree he’s not the only one to blame, absolutely, everyone who participated is responsible. Ffs, the Prime Minister was there. I’m just frustrated by his entire attitude towards the situation.
Agree. Plenković could have said no to the tournament.
Do you really believe that Croatia had zero Covid cases? Come on. It’s in every European country whether there’s tests or not.
I’m sorry he’s sick but maybe if these guys get the really bad version of Covid (i.e. respirators) they’ll finally understand the gravity of the situation. What if someone dies? It’s going to be his fault. Forever.
I’m supposed to come to Croatia from London but I plan on wearing a mask, gloves, head cover…. and staying in self isolation for 14 days although it’s not mandatory anymore. I don’t get all the people traveling and not wearing a mask while just going everywhere like covid is completely gone.
I am in Zagreb (Croatian capital) right now and almost no one is wearing a mask, anywhere. It’s true there have been very very few cases in the country over the past few weeks, but it’s still shocking to see how many people seem to think we can just jump back to normal as if nothing had happened. I’m so worried about the second wave here, there’s an election coming up and the country depends on tourism heavily, I don’t see the government imposing another lockdown any time soon. It’s frightening.
I’m from Croatia too. I’m planning to stay home till the end of the year. And with the political situation and everything… I don’t even know what to think. But trust me UK is worse in every aspect now. I just need to be home now or I’m going to go crazy here. I’m just super anxious about the flight but I have to fly back.
gloves can be worse, harder to sanitize than skin and people don’t wash there hands as much.
Many people will die or have organs badly affected because of this. Masks make a huge difference and they should have handed them out. Shouting and singing is terrible for spreading because you project droplets from deep in the lungs. Two meter rule is just for normal talking, and not always enough. Novak is evil and an idiot.
Sorry to hear how tough things are going in Croatia @Novaroux and @Lemonylips… I was reading briefly about the election and that the President there was vocal in his support of Djokavic’s tour… do you think that the tour was encouraged as a kind of political stunt? By that, I mean to help the President convince the public that life was getting on like normal and everything was fine?
It still amazes me how many people think Covid-19 is a hoax or not really a big deal.
It’s true – unbelievable how prevalent that mindset is, all over the world. I think the only thing that would convince people like that sometimes is if they actually caught it or passed it to a family member…
My husband is mad at these players because now the tennis world have seen how easy it is for the virus to spread among players. He us worried about the tennis season being completely cancelled, not just postponed.
Won’t be shocked if the US Open gets cancelled now.
I kind of think it should be. Tennis is one of the most global sports and when you have the number one men’s player acting like an ass and enabling other ATP players to conduct themselves similarly, it’s not a good look for the sport. There’s no guarantee that every player will behave himself/herself when they touch down in Cincinnati, NYC, Madrid, etc. to play in the next 2-3 months. And with each area of the world going through different stages of the pandemic, it’s going to be even more difficult to prevent infections.
I wonder if they would have been fine had they not gone to the club, like utter idiots.
There was no social distancing whatsoever during the entire tour, it would have been a sh*tshow with or without the club, sadly. The situation in Serbia is still far from safe and they were mingling with the crowds like lunatics the entire time.
Ah, so if I just blatantly ignore science because I do it with a pure and honorable intent and I suffer the consequences (as well as inflict those consequences on other people) it doesn’t matter, right?
What a selfish, arrogant jerk. I love how this has all been reframed now that he’s actually tested positive. The only ones I feel sorry for are his children.
And also all the people he came into contact with in the airports and on the plane and car ride home since he purposefully waited to be tested until he flew home so he could quarantine there. A$$hat.
It’s not just karma when he knows people in his direct entourage have it.
It’s Dominic Cummings- like hubris and selfishness.
He didn’t want to be inconvenienced and quarantine away from home so he flew back and put other people at risk because he is an arsehole.
It’s worse than that. He brought crowds of thousands together which will cause mass outbreaks in 4 different locations.
I feel sorry for his kids. Imagine having parents as stupid as this.
Well since he said he wouldn’t be getting the vaccine when it’s available, I’m glad he got the virus so he’ll develop immunity naturally and won’t put people in danger with his stupid anti-vaxx beliefs.
Latest reasearches unfortunately show that there is no immunity if you had it. So for anyone who gets it the second time around it might even be more severe. It’s something about antibodies not being present forever. I have to dig that article up somewhere.
Plus, a little over a week ago I read on the Harvard website that scientists say this virus is constantly mutating (evolving), finding ways around any “roadblocks” we throw in front of it. It will be awhile before medical science has it figured out, it is THAT strong.
God that club video is so cringey! Reminds me of the video of Prince William dad dancing at a club. Ugh
The dancing style is not the issue. That’s traditional, and would normally be fine. It’s a classic folk dance style. That kind of dancing is really fun, actually. It would have been a sweet video in other circumstances.
The cringey part is that they all thought they were above the virus. The Virus DGAF who anyone is.
I look forward to being able to pop over to walgreens for the vax! Can’t come soon enough.
Knew when it took them so long to report the findings that he was positive. He probably made them run the test twice just to be sure. Djoko, you were an ass and endangered every person associate with that tour. It was a tourney of ego and arrogance.
Completely agreed. Toxic masculinity really fits as a definition
FWIW, when I was tested they told me they always run it twice. This is in the US.
I’m a fan of Nole but after learning that he is anti-vaxx, not so much. I don’t hate the guy but my gosh his actions are so irresponsible.
Sascha why did you join this mess?! I thought you were smarter than that.
I honestly think that most tennis players, Including Zverev, are just a bunch of immature bros. Arrested development and all that. There have always been exceptions to the rule Federer and Nadal, and Murray come to mind immediately, also Andy Roddick and James Blake who was always a joy to listen to. But most of them often behave like half-wits.
I was shocked to see Kyrgios’s reaction to the whole story. He, of all people, taking it seriously – who would have thought?
Did anyone hear about the comic D.L. Hughley. He collapsed doing a stand up show and found out he had Covid-19. Now everyone in the comedy club has to get tested. There is video, no masks in sight. I don’t know how people are going about life as if everything is normal. Movies, comedy shows, eat-in restaurants? No thanks.
Sorry, double post I couldn’t cancel.
But yes, I’d heard about Hughley. Ignorance and stupidity is running rampant. I am so depressed today after reading late yesterday that my city, Phoenix (Arizona), suspended the “must wear masks in public” mandate they just put in place last Friday for Donald Trump’s rally being held here today. So here’s another few thousand people gathering indoors, without social distancing or face masks, and they’ll share their germs with their families and the general public. Oy vay. Our numbers have been spiking so high, and the hospitals were already at 80% ICU capacity.
Yes definitely ignorance and stupidity !!!
And DL was claiming he was asymptomatic – which is a lie. If you collapse on stage, you’ve got symptoms.
Currently watching the “battle of the brits” which is a charity exhibition tournament going on in the UK at the moment. So different to the Adria tour – no crowd, no ball boys/girls, no line judges. There are ways of continuing tennis during a pandemic without being an idiot.
And this Adria-Tour might have just stuck a fork in it(((
I feel sorry for Troicki’s wife, hopefully she and the baby are alright. And I’m glad Djokovic’s children are alright, it’s not their fault his dad is an a hole.
How come people still think the tour should resume? No, even without crowds and social distance, the players and their teams will live in hotels, right? No one cares about the employees?
Also, I still can’t get over that I agree with Kyrgios! I’ll never forgive you, Nole. Lol
There really should be some type of penalty for people who know that they’ve been exposed to the coronavirus but refuse to get tested and then STILL fly. He put everyone at that airport and anyone he ran into get there and then get home in grave danger when he didnt need to. He needs to pay for that. A half assed apology won’t cut it.
So he knew he was unwell and that it was likely he had the virus. Did he even then have the decency to wear a mask as he traveled home? If not, then that makes his miserable behavior even worse.
Djokovic’s year:
– came out as an antivaxxer in the middle of a pandemic
– the nonsensical “our thoughts can affect water molecules in our body” comments (???)
– missed the 400 players present Covid zoom call, keeping in mind that he is president of the players council
– came up with the Adria tour and as a key person in its formation failed to enforce any safety guidelines whatsoever
– flew home untested so that he could self isolate in comfort
– maintains his flabbergasting magic trick of making incredible tennis feats look dull as dishwater (that one is possibly a personal gripe)
What an absolute tit. Never liked the guy ever since he fake limped through the first set of an Australian Open final v Murray years ago, only to magically heal the second he started winning again, but I was mellowing towards him recently.. Nope, he’s a moron.
“maintains his flabbergasting magic trick of making incredible tennis feats look dull as dishwater …”
LOLOLOLLL!!!!! Thank you for putting this into words! So true!
Oh I remember that match well too; had liked him up until that point.
As an avid tennis fan, I’ve long had something of a soft spot for Novak. He is such a talented player and he has worked hard to be more “likable”. But I was sorely disappointed he came out as an antivaxxer. And then this – these matches were stupid, arrogant and tone deaf, and even worse, are spreading the virus to areas that had dealt with it responsibly. Glad my main man, Rafa, stayed away.
Zero sympathy. He purposely ignored safety guidelines for his man-tour. A virus doesnt care about your ego and over-inflated sense of your own importance.
This is just a preview of what’s going to happen as professional sports start to open up. Look at all the teams wanting to cluster in Florida( current COVID hotspot) to play in the next few months. These guys were irresponsible but they reflect a lot of the attitude about COVID.
Yep, I live in North Florida. People are going out, to the beaches, restaurants, shopping. I would say about 30 to 40 percent are wearing masks. THAT’S IT! I just want to scream at the ones not wearing masks. Because of these ignorant fools, this is going to last longer. I’m pissed about it.
In Australia, our biggest football code, Australian Rules football started up a couple of weeks ago. It seemed clear that there was incredible pressure (political and financial) on each of our state premiers (similar to US state governors) and state health departments to agree.
A player tested positive over the weekend (it later turned out to be a false positive test – many keyboard warriors and Murdoch “journalists” owe him huge apologies as he was absolutely vilified).
But it brought into sharp focus the lack of social distancing occurring on field with players hugging, shaking hands, and a heap of other problems (as well as at their training practice), but the horrific lack of hygiene amongst players, who cough on the hands, spit on the grass (which players can end up being face down in if they fall or are tackled), wipe their noses and faces with their hands and arms and later shake hands etc with other players and worse still, use what we call here a bushman’s hanky (will let anyone interested google that, rather than go into gory detail!).
Any sport at any level hoping to start up has to look at what the AFL has done right (really frequent tests amongst all players and club staff) and what they’ve done wrong (really poor implementation of strict hygiene rules, and serious invasion of players’ privacy, amongst other things).
Djokovic has been so unbelievably arrogant and careless throughout all of this. Imagine having the nerve to complain that the US Open’s initial guidelines were too strict and then going out to do this foolishness. He didn’t even have the decency to reflect on his actions in that BS statement. It makes me nervous for the US Open because the ATP players in general are definitely more entitled and selfish than the WTA players. I worry about Serena especially because of her past health issues and she already has half a lung removed. I wonder if it’s not better to just cancel tennis season altogether; the second wave is starting in some areas of the world, while the first wave hasn’t even ended (and is only intensifying) in other places like the US.
The “a pure heart and sincere intentions” exscuse feels like it could become a mantra, it’s the new “thoughts and prayers”, so meaningless and infuriating as a response. How about due diligence and advice from the experts, what’s wrong with that? They sure indulged is some magical thinking and had their asses handed to them
NoVaxx DjoKovid, his new nickname on Serbia,or Djokovid-19.
That Bro dancing video is so cringey. I hope the man follows his own ant vaxx and anti science advice and only treats himself with crystals and whatever quackery he believes in.
YESS!!!
No one is perfect and I certainly don’t agree with Novak’s opinions about vaccines but I wholeheartedly disagree with everything else you said. Everything he has he’s earned with his hard word, including his money. So what if he’s rich? Is being white and rich a reason to hate someone? He meant well with this tournament and I think most people know that. Btw I live in Zadar and I was at his match on Saturday, day before everything was cancelled. He’s a good guy and people respect him.
No sympathy here.
All I’m saying is that Andy Murray would never have done this.
I mean, just because you didn’t see it or see ppl drop dead on the street due to covid, doesn’t mean it is over. the vaccine is still nowhere to be found, the virus won’t suddenly disappear on its own~ and the fact that he travelled back home, the selfishness is jumping off the roof. you can still help thru other means or held your tournament with more care but what do i know…. i’m not famous male tennis players
It amazes me how lax certain countries regarding covid19 tbh. we still close our borders and now looking into the opening to a few selected countries but that still in talks for the past few weeks already. and i’m glad. i can see entitled ppl start travelling in and spreading covid and undo the things we done so far
i’m not a fan of Nick K, but his response was perfect. Plus he donated lots of money to the bushfires in australia and he did lots of donations to people helping the poor. he’s done good . on the court he’s a dick but off the court he seems decent. Meanwhile D is a dick all way round.
They danced to “a little party never killed anybody” …
His diehard Stans came for Ben Rothenberg big time on twitter.
This is the thing I do not understand of hardcore fans of any kind, be they MAGAts, Fed, Djoker or Nadal fans, or whoever: even when the evidence is right in their face, they can’t seem to admit their idol’s missteps, failings or horrificness 😐 I mean it’s ok to admit it – what’s the big deal? Nobody’s perfect and no need to threaten anyone who reports the facts (and not for a minute do I believe any of the latter three belong in the same category as trump… it’s just an example).