Novak Djokovic tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, becoming the fourth player to be diagnosed with the virus who participated in the Adria Tour that the World No.1 organized in Serbia and Croatia.
Along with his wife, who has also tested positive for the virus, Djokovic will go for 14 days of self-isolation. He is not showing any symptoms so far.
“The moment we arrived in Belgrade we went to be tested. My result is positive, just as Jelena’s, while the results of our children are negative,” said the 17-time Grand Slam winner in a statement.
Earlier in the week, Grigor Dimitrov and Borna Coric had tested positive for the Coronavirus along with Djokovic’s fitness coach Marco Panichi and Dimitrov’s coach Kristijan Groh. On Tuesday, Viktor Troicki said that he and his pregnant wife have both been diagnosed with the Virus that has claimed more than 470,000 lives.
Djokovic’s charity tournament, which also had players like Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev, faced criticism for flouting Social Distancing rules as players were seen hugging, shaking hands during matches, and even partying at a night club in Belgrade.
Despite the positive test, Djokovic defended the exhibition series.
“Everything we did in the past month, we did with a pure heart and sincere intentions. Our tournament meant to unite and share a message of solidarity and compassion throughout the region.”
“It was all born with a philanthropic idea, to direct all raised funds towards people in need and it warmed my heart to see how everybody strongly responded to this,” he added.
Djokovic said that he will retake the test again in five days and also apologized to anyone who became infected as a result of his tournament, which was canceled until further notice on Monday in Zadar.
