Vijay Amritraj: Novak Djokovic could have taken more precautions with Adria Tour

Former Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj thinks Novak Djokovic's intentions with his Adria Tour project were good but still he believes the organizers should have been more precautious.

"In hindsight, yes, obviously he could have taken a lot more precautions before running the event," Amritraj told Reuters.

Djokovic, ranked at No. 1 in the world, launched the Adria Tour after returning to Serbia in May as his initial plan was to visit four counties in the Balkans with his event. 

The first leg of the Adria Tour event took place in Belgrade from June 13-14, while the second leg of the event kicked off in Zadar the following weekend. 

Unfortunately, the Adria Tour event in Zadar wasn't finished as the organizers called off the final between Djokovic and Andrey Rublev after Grigor Dimitrov tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Adria Tour featured packed crowds, while players shook hands and hugged. 

Three more Adria Tour participants tested positive for the coronavirus as the tests of Djokovic, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki also came back as positive.

"In spite of certain local government mandates, I think it is critical to follow some common sense," Amritraj added.

Vijay Amritraj soon realized something wasn't right 

Shirtly after the Adria Tour event in Belgrade kicked off, 17-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic started receiving criticism.

The criticism got even bigger when players who participated at the Adria Tour tested positive for the coronavirus.

Amritraj himself was a bit concerned after seeing a packed crowd.

"As days progressed, I realised that they were going to put about 1,000 people in a stadium and I really didn’t know how big the stadium was,” Amritraj said.

“And later on ... after finding out that the event itself had pretty much a full house from the perspective of fans and none of this social distancing, masks, all of that were even in play, it became very much more of a concern.”

Amritraj has suggested that whatever Djokovic does it impacts the image of tennis since he is one of the greatest tennis players ever.

"Same for Roger (Federer) and Rafa (Nadal), whatever they say or do is going to have a great degree of influence over the sport worldwide and what people think," Amritraj said.

Vijay Amritraj claimed a couple of big wins during his career as he can brag about beating the likes of Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver and Jimmy Connors.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Bk4HS9