Belgrade: World No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic has tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday after taking part in Adria Tour -- a tennis exhibition series he organized in Serbia and Croatia. The top ranked player along with his wife, who has also tested positive for the virus, will go for 14 days of self-isolation.
Confirming the news , the 17-time Grand Slam winner in a statement said that he, however, is not showing any symptoms so far. “The moment we arrived in Belgrade we went to be tested. My result is positive, just as Jelena’s, while the results of our children are negative,” said Djokovic said in a statement.
“Everything we did in the past month, we did with a pure heart and sincere intentions. Our tournament meant to unite and share a message of solidarity and compassion throughout the region. It was all born with a philanthropic idea, to direct all raised funds towards people in need and it warmed my heart to see how everybody strongly responded to this,” he added.
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) June 23, 2020
Djokovic's statement further read that they had organised the tournament thinking that the virus had weakend and believed that the conditions for hosting the Tour had been met. "Unfortunately the virus is still present and it is a new reality that we are still learning to cope up and live with. I am hoping things will ease with time so we can resume lives the way they were," said Djpkovic in the statement.
Djokovic said that he will retake the test again in five days and also apologised to anyone who became infected as a result of his tournament, which was cancelled until further notice on Monday in Zadar.
Earlier in the week, Grigor Dimitrov and Borna Coric had tested positive for the coronavirus alongwith Djokovic’s fitness coach Marco Panichi and Dimitrov’s coach Kristijan Groh. Viktor Troicki and his pregnant wife too have been diagnosed with the virus.
— borna coric (@borna_coric) June 22, 2020
Djokovic’s charity tournament, which also had players like Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev, faced criticism for flouting social distancing rules as players were seen hugging, shaking hands during matches.
