Peter FitzSimons rips into World No. 1 Novak Djokovic following coronavirus bombshell

Peter FitzSimons believes World No. 1 Novak Djokovic should hang his head in shame after Tuesday’s bombshell coronavirus announcement.

Peter FitzSimons believes World No. 1 Novak Djokovic should hang his head in shame after Tuesday’s bombshell coronavirus announcement.

Veteran journalist Peter FitzSimons has called for World No. 1 Novak Djokovic to step down as ATP Player Council president following Tuesday’s shock coronavirus revelation.

Djokovic revealed he and his wife had tested positive to COVID-19 after taking part in a tennis exhibition series he organised in the Balkan region.

The 33-year-old has been widely criticised for organising the tournament and bringing in players from other countries amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Tennis stars Borna Coric, Grigor Dimitrov and Viktor Troicki also tested positive for the virus after playing in the Adria Tour, an exhibition tournament launched by Djokovic that saw events take place in Serbia and Croatia.

There were no social distancing measures observed at the matches in either country.

After Djokovic revealed his positive result, Australian tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios called out the 17-time Grand Slam champion for dancing topless at a party in Belgrade this week.

Prayers up to all the players that have contracted Covid - 19. Don’t @ me for anything I’ve done that has been ‘irresponsible’ or classified as ‘stupidity’ - this takes the cake. https://t.co/lVligELgID

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) June 23, 2020

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On Wednesday, FitzSimons claimed Djokovic’s position as ATP Player Council president was “totally untenable” following the coronavirus bombshell.

“You cannot be the one representing the players, saying, ‘We players have got to do the right thing’, when you demonstrably have done absolutely the wrong thing,” FitzSimons said on Wide World of Sports’ Five Minutes with Fitzy.

“It’s one thing to take a risk and triumph, but to take a risk and fall flat on your face. And the absolute truth of it is, to behave in a manner which has put lives at risk, there’s no way around that.

“The way that he did that, the way that he behaved has put lives at risk. End of the section.

“And Nick Kyrgios is quite right to have called him out on it and say, ‘This is not the behaviour tennis players should be known for’.

“Kyrgios’ point, where he says, basically, ‘I’ve taken a lot of flak for behaving badly over the years, I’ll put my bad behaviour up against this bad behaviour any day of the week and tell me that mine even compares’ … there’s no way around that.”

After Tuesday’s announcement, Djokovic conceded it was a mistake to go ahead with his tournament, apologising on social media.

“I am so deeply sorry our tournament has caused harm,” Djokovic posted to Instagram.

“Everything the organisers and I did the past month, we did with a pure heart and sincere intentions.

“We believed the tournament met all health protocols and the health of our region seemed in good condition to finally unite people for philanthropic reasons.

“We were wrong and it was too soon.

“I can’t express how sorry I am for this and every case of infection.”

But FitzSimons was adamant Djokovic did not write a single word of the statement.

“If he wrote that, I’ll fall over,” FitzSimons said.

“He didn’t write that, that’ll be a PR person, ‘We’ve got to tailor these remarks’. And in the end, forget your press release, mate. You’ve done absolutely the wrong thing.

“Resign as the head of the players’ (council) and hang your head in shame.”

Novak Djokovic claimed the men’s singles title at this year’s Australian Open in Melbourne.

READ MORE: Novak’s bizarre beliefs in the spotlight

READ MORE: Virus conspiracy of Djokovic’s wife

Djokovic has openly proclaimed he would refuse to accept a jab if a coronavirus vaccination was found.

FitzSimons bluntly labelled the Serbian a “moron” for his contentious anti-vax beliefs.

“Novak Djokovic is one of the more entertaining players on the circuit, seems like a good guy, and then in recent times it came out that he’s an anti-vaxxer,” FitzSimons said.

“Which is another way of saying he’s a … trying to think of that word … moron.

“I mean, anti-vaxxing … please. Being anti-vaxxer is another way of saying you’re a moron.

“You don’t want to say that of Djokovic because he seems such a good bloke, but then that he does this thing. He says, basically, ‘Forget the rules. This is not that serious, game’s over, we can all carry on’.

“To bring them from all over Europe, then to dance shirtless, sweating, in a nightclub.

“Then he comes down with it, his wife comes down with it, several other players come down with it.”

The former Wallaby also praised Kyrgios for his outspoken condemnation of Djokovic amid the coronavirus pandemic. Tennis superstar Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are yet to comment on the COVID-19 debacle.

Nick Kyrgios is currently sitting in 40th spot on the ATP rankings.

“It’s extraordinary and a lot of people have said to me, ‘First time ever I agree with Nick Kyrgios’,” FitzSimons said.

“I’ve done more criticism than most on Kyrgios, but within Kyrgios, I still have this sense there’s a great humanity in him. There’s courage and there’s so many good qualities of Kyrgios that if he could all put it together, he would turn into the superstar of our time.

“Kyrgios is saying what needs to be said in the tennis community. I haven’t heard anything from Federer, anything from Nadal. Kyrgios is the one that is saying what needs to be said: you’re embarrassing the sport and you’re embarrassing yourself.

“When Kyrgios says that to you, you know things are grim.”