By now, you’ve read about the disastrous Adria Tour organized by world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Scheduled to be played in four European cities, the tennis exhibition matches brought together Sascha Zverez, Dominic Thiem, Grigor Dimitrov and Djokovic, among others.
Tennis (unlike basketball and football) is contact-less. Your opponent stands 78 feet away. In rankings of the “least contagious sports,” tennis ranks at the top. But what Djokovic did was mind-boggling. He allowed the players to shake hands, hug, and party to end the tournament. He allowed spectators, over 4,000 in Belgrade, to sit side-by-side. The result: after a couple of weeks, Djokovic, Dimitrov and several of his tennis-mates got Covid-19.
Nicknamed “Djoker,” Covid-19 is no joke, he realized. Djokovic has since apologized and been lambasted by sports fans around the world.
The US Open is scheduled next month, on August 24. Given the catastrophe that happened to Novak’s event, I’m sure the officials will be strict, more so because the site is in New York City, previously the epicenter of this pandemic.
No fans. Testing for all. No shaking of hands, only the crossing of swords (rackets) between opponents.
