Adria Tour

Last updated
Adria Tour
Adriatour.png
Tournament information
Location Belgrade, Serbia
Zadar, Croatia
Surface Clay / outdoor

The Adria Tour was an exhibition tennis tour held in June 2020 in Belgrade, Serbia and Zadar, Croatia. It was organized by the world No. 1 ranked player Novak Djokovic during the ATP Tour's shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contents

The event fell under heavy criticism due to its lack of social distancing procedures, and allowing a full crowd, unlike the simultaneous Ultimate Tennis Showdown. A planned Montenegrin leg was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. [1] During the Croatian leg, Grigor Dimitrov, one of the marquee players, announced that he had tested positive for the virus, leading to the event being abandoned. [2] Borna Ćorić, Dimitrov's last opponent, tested positive the next day. [3] Viktor Troicki and Djokovic himself tested positive over the next two days. [4] [5]

Tournament

After the ATP announced on 12 March that all tennis events would be suspended for at least six weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Novak Djokovic proposed an exhibition tournament in his home region of the Balkans from 13 June to 5 July. [6] The schedule and locations proposed were:

Unusually for events during the pandemic, fans were allowed to attend, but organizers said that a one-meter distance between each spectator would be enforced. [7] This was not the case during the Serbian leg, however, which was tightly packed. [8]

Format

The matches proposed were a shorter version of tennis called Fast4 Tennis where the first player to win 4 games wins the set, with 2 sets winning the match. Each stop on the tour followed a round-robin system between players in two pools, with the pool winners playing in a final.

Participants

The following is a list of players for the tournament: [9]

PlayerRank
Flag of Serbia.svg Novak Djokovic 1
Flag of Austria.svg Dominic Thiem 3
Flag of Germany.svg Alexander Zverev 7
Flag of Russia.svg Andrey Rublev 14
Flag of Bulgaria.svg Grigor Dimitrov 19
Flag of Serbia.svg Dušan Lajović 23
Flag of Serbia.svg Filip Krajinović 32
Flag of Croatia.svg Borna Ćorić 33
Flag of Croatia.svg Marin Čilić 37
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg Damir Džumhur 107
Flag of Serbia.svg Danilo Petrović 157
Flag of Serbia.svg Viktor Troicki 184
Flag of Serbia.svg Peđa Krstin 246
Flag of Croatia.svg Nino Serdarušić 299

The singles competitors secured for the event were top players, compared to other unofficial tournaments around the same time. [10]

Finals

In the Belgrade tournament, Dominic Thiem defeated surprise finalist Filip Krajinović in three sets in the first leg. The cancelled final of the second leg was to be between Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev.

LocationChampionRunner-upScore
Flag of Serbia.svg Belgrade Flag of Austria.svg Dominic Thiem Flag of Serbia.svg Filip Krajinović 4–3(7–2), 2–4, 4–2
Flag of Croatia.svg Zadar Flag of Serbia.svg Novak Djokovic vs. Flag of Russia.svg Andrey Rublev Final cancelled [11]
Flag of Montenegro.svg not determinedTournament abandoned [12]
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg Banja LukaTournament abandoned [13]
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg SarajevoTournament abandoned [13]

Aftermath

It was revealed on 21 June that Grigor Dimitrov tested positive for COVID-19 after participating in the Zadar event and then returning to his home in Monaco. [14] The announcement by Dimitrov on Instagram took place shortly before the final was to be played in Zadar, with the crowd awaiting the players to enter the court. After Dimitrov's announcement, the final was cancelled. [11]

Social media posts and photographs of the players showed them hugging, shaking hands, playing basketball, and dancing together during the event, as well as during the previous event a week and a half earlier in Belgrade. [15]

Borna Ćorić, who played against Dimitrov at the Zadar event and was seen to hug Dimitrov before the game, also revealed on 22 June that he tested positive for COVID-19. [16] Viktor Troicki and his pregnant wife Aleksandra announced they had tested positive hours later. [5]

On 23 June, Djokovic announced that both he and his wife Jelena had also tested positive for COVID-19. [17]

On 26 June, Djokovic's coach Goran Ivanišević confirmed that he had tested positive for the virus as well. [18]

See also

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References

  1. Sharma, Aryan (June 21, 2020). ""It's Hard To Explain To People" - Novak Djokovic Defends Decision To Have Crowds At The Adria Tour".
  2. "Grigor Dimitrov tests positive for coronavirus after feeling unwell at Adria Tour". Eurosport. June 21, 2020.
  3. "Borna Coric also tests positive for coronavirus after Grigor Dimitrov case". Eurosport. June 22, 2020.
  4. "Djokovic has tested positive for coronavirus". ESPN.com. 2020-06-23. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  5. 1 2 "Viktor Troicki becomes fifth Adria Tour participant to test positive for coronavirus - report". Eurosport. 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  6. "Novak Djokovic twitter post". Twitter. May 22, 2020.
  7. "Exhibition events fill void during tennis shutdown - but will any stick around when normality returns?". The National. June 9, 2020.
  8. Stojanović, Dušan (2020-06-12). "Djokovic defends packing the stands at tennis charity tour event in Serbia". Press Herald. Archived from the original on 2020-06-24. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  9. "UČESNICI TURNIRA". theadriatour.com. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  10. "Zverev joins Djokovic, Thiem, Dimitrov in playing the Adria Tour". Tennis Tonic. May 26, 2020.
  11. 1 2 "Adria Tour final cancelled". Adria Tour. 21 June 2020.
  12. "Adria Tour event in Montenegro cancelled". Adria Tour. 13 June 2020. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  13. 1 2 "The Organizing Committee of the Adria Tour made a decision on the cancellation of further events". Adria Tour. 23 June 2020. Archived from the original on 25 June 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  14. "Grigor Dimitrov 'so sorry' after testing positive for coronavirus". The Guardian. June 21, 2020.
  15. "'Shocking': Novak Djokovic raises eyebrows ignoring restrictions at charity tennis event". Nine News. June 10, 2020.
  16. "Nick Kyrgios calls Adria Tour 'bone-headed' after positive coronavirus tests". BBC. June 22, 2020.
  17. "Coronavirus: Novak Djokovic tests positive for COVID-19". Sky News. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  18. PA Media (2020-06-26). "Novak Djokovic's coach Goran Ivanisevic tests positive for coronavirus". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2020-06-26.