AN EXHIBITION tennis tournament Adria Tour organized by the top Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, which became a new large coronavirus hotspot due to an obvious failure to follow the epidemiological measures, was covered even by the international media.
The New York Times published as much as three articles in the last two days about the Zadar fiasco, which resulted in currently 81 people in isolation and five coronavirus cases, including Croatian tennis player Borna Coric, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and his coach, Serbian tennis player Viktor Troicki, Djokovic's coach, and a five-year-old who wasn't actually present at the tournament, but he was at a family gathering with the tennis players.
Since the tournament took place from last Friday until Sunday, two weeks will be necessary to unveil the full extent of the spread of the infection at this sports event. Of course, if, in the meantime, the virus doesn't start to spread throughout Zadar uncontrollably.
The Zadar fiasco was covered by the New York Times, the Guardian, Time, AP, CNN, RT, Telegraph...
Interestingly, Djokovic's status is unknown because he rejected the testing in Zadar. Instead, he hurriedly left Zadar and went to Belgrade, where he was immediately tested and, he will announce the test result today as soon as it arrives.
Besides the New York Times, other media are also writing about the Croatian scandal, such as the Associated Press, CNN, the New York Post, the USA Today, the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Express, the Metro, Time, Forbes, Eurosport, ESPN, Al Jazeera English, Fox Sport, Yahoo Sports, News.com.au, RT, and many other international media.
The article "Virus Cases at Djokovic's Event Put Sports Under Scrutiny," which the NY Times and Yahoo Sports featured via the Associated Press, is about two tennis players ranked among the top 40 in the world inflected in a sporting event where "fans are packed into the stands, and social distancing was not enforced."
The article draws parallels with a football match in Belgrade, after which five players of the soccer club Red Star were infected. They stated that the tennis players, including the Croat Marin Cilic, had been playing basketball with the local team and posed together for a photograph.
"Enormous irresponsibility and huge immaturity… it's difficult for me to find the words"
The article "After Virus Tests, Djokovic Is Criticized for Holding Exhibition" stated that the tennis players had not only played in front of big crowds at the Adria Tour, which also took place in Belgrade. "They have hugged, high-fived, and partied together: Some of the players even formed a line and did the limbo on a night out in Belgrade, Serbia," the New York Times wrote.
The NY Times also quoted an extremely fierce Bruno Soares's criticism, a member of the ATP Player Council, led by Djokovic himself.
"I sum it up as a horror show. Enormous irresponsibility and huge immaturity. They were totally careless, and it's difficult for me to find the words."
The article also features a Twitter post of an Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgious where he called the decision to allow this humanitarian tournament a "boneheaded decision." USA Today also quoted it.
In another tweet, Kyrgious sarcastically wrote: "Congratulations. Such leadership," along the report about the cancellation of the Adria Tour finals announced by the tournament director, Goran Ivanisevic.
On its news portal, the Time magazine featured the AP's article called "New Coronavirus Cases Linked to Tennis Tournament in Croatia After Several Players Tested Positive." It mentioned that "Croatia has reopened in hopes of salvaging the summer tourism season along the Adriatic Sea coast," and holding a national election on July 5.
On the other hand, its article "Tennis Event Organized by Novak Djokovic Under Fire as Players Test Positive for coronavirus" showed that Djokovic defended the hosting of the event by saying that the situation in Serbia and Croatia was "really different than in the US and the UK," where the epidemic is still in full swing.
"I don't understand ... no safe distancing, total physical contact, no face masks, even the fans were without masks," CNN quoted the Twitter post of a retired tennis player Chris Evert in his response to photos of players at the Adria Tour.
The Guardian sports columnist Kevin Mitchell published a newspaper column with the following title: Novak Djokovic has learned he cannot hide from coronavirus in his own bubble," where he harshly criticized the world's No.1 player, who has already caused controversies with his scientifically questionable statements about COVID-19, primarily his statement that he won't take vaccination once it is available.
"This is showing the middle finger to the fight against coronavirus"
Of course, many sports media also covered this story. The French L'Équipe wrote that the Adriatic tennis tournament took place "without any social distancing measures" and that Djokovic, Thiem, Zverev, as well as many other tennis players and spectators, had been hanging out with the infected Dimitrov.
"This event will bring to the fore the discussion about the health measures linked to tennis and the tournament organization," L'equipe wrote.
Famous coach Brad Gilbert posted photographs on Twitter with Dimitrov hugging Djokovic, Cilic, and others, to which the former No.1 Andy Roddick responded cynically: "Allegedly we're in the middle of the pandemic…"
One of the most influential tennis reporters in the world, Ben Rothenberg, wrote that the Adria Tour was "middle finger to the concept of social distancing and the fight against coronavirus."
Plenkovic's statement from last week: "This event will be a huge promotion for Zadar and Croatian in the world"
Plenkovic, who himself attended the Adria Tour in Zadar last weekend, said that his government supported "the tournament conceptualized by the world's No.1 tennis player, Novak Djokovic" and praised this humanitarian tournament in front of the reporters.
"It's a great message since there will be no ATP nor WTA. This event will be a great promotion of Zadar and Croatia in the world," Plenkovic concluded then. Our Prime Minister, however, wasn't aware that his prediction about "the promotion of Zadar and Croatia" will come true, but not quite as he imagined or his government, the Zadar authorities (led by the Croatian Democratic Party), the Croatian Tennis Association as the tournament co-organizer, and Goran Ivanisevic, the director of the tournament.