Players line up to slam Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic’s presidency of the ATP Tour’s player council appears doomed.

Novak Djokovic plays basketball with Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov, in Zadar, Croatia. Both men have tested positive to COVID-19 Picture: AP

Novak Djokovic’s presidency of the ATP Tour’s player council appears doomed after the Serb tested positive to COVID-19, days after hosting the Adria Tour exhibition in the Balkans.

Condemned as needlessly cavalier for staging the tournament amid a pandemic after Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki also returned positive tests following the tournament in Serbia and Croatia, Djokovic apologised. But there is little compassion for the 17-time major winner, who has been slammed by Nick Kyrgios and Andy Murray.

“Obviously it’s not surprising how many players have tested positive when you see the scenes and the images and the videos from the tournament and the players party with no social distancing in place,” Murray said. “I‘ve seen some people say this puts the US Open in doubt but the measures and the protocols they have in place are completely different to what was going on in Serbia and Croatia. For a start, there will be no fans (at the US Open) and the players will now know we can all be affected by this, it doesn’t matter who you are, we need to respect the rules.”

Kyrgios tweeted: “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.” Kyrgios earlier described the Adria Tour as “boneheaded”.

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Martina Navratilova, winner of 18 singles majors, wrote: “Yikes this is not good and it’s a pattern. Hope Novak will be ok of course! What now, US Open? Roland Garros? We have a lot of work to do.” Former Yugoslavia Davis Cup coach Radmilo Armenulic said: “Djokovic shot himself in the foot by organising the Adria Tour. The organisation of the Belgrade leg was catastrophic, the stands were so full that fans were virtually sitting on top of each other. He staged this event with the best of intentions but it turns out it was a big mistake.”

With no social distancing rules in place in Serbia, players hugged at the net, played basketball, posed for pictures, attended press conferences and were out dancing together.

“I don’t think he should be having a players’ party and dancing all over each other,” Britain’s Dan Evans said. “Players have tested positive. He (Djokovic) should feel some responsibility in his event and how it’s transpired, really.”

US player Mitchell Krueger said: “It’s only inevitable that all these boneheaded decisions are possibly putting US Open at risk. Which means this also affects some 300-plus players. Nobody is bigger than the sport,” he tweeted.

The USTA said it was confident the US Open’s protocols “enables us to mitigate potential risk and appropriately respond to any issues”.

Meanwhile, world No 1 Ash Barty has welcomed the return of professional tennis in Australia from this weekend, with a series of singles tournaments to be played in capital cities around the nation over the next month.

But the reigning Roland Garros champion will not be among the participants in the series, which is worth $450,000, preferring to focus on training as she weighs up whether to return to the circuit in the US or wait for the rescheduled clay circuit in Europe from mid-September.

“At this stage I won’t be taking part in the UTR Pro Series as my team and I continue to focus on my training,” she said. “It’s great there is an opportunity for Aussies to get back out there and I wish all the competing players the best for the event.”

Fed Cup representatives Daria Gavrilova and Priscilla Hon, along with Davis Cup players like Jordan Thompson are among competitors expected to play in events run in each state.

Herald Sun