World number one Novak Djokovic, accused critics of running an agenda and subjecting him to a “witch-hunt” after his regional Adria Tour tennis event ended in a novel coronavirus fiasco.
Djokovic, fellow Serb Viktor Troicki, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Croatian Borna Coric all tested positive for the virus and the event had to be called off.
“I can only see criticism lately and much of it is malicious,” Djokovic told to a Serbia’s media.
“It’s obviously more than just criticism, it’s like an agenda and a witch-hunt are on. Someone has to take the fall, a big name.”
“My intention was pure, I was whole-heartedly committed to organising a humanitarian event to help players and tennis federations in the (Balkan) region,” he said.
“We complied with all the laws and regulations. But we’ve learned our lessons and some things could have probably been done in a different way.”
Images and videos of the players hugging at the net, playing basketball together, and partying at the tournament were posted on social media.
Remaining two legs were scrapped and the tournament was called off after Dimitrov tested positive for the virus.
On the issue of playing US Open Djokovic said “I still haven’t decided whether I will play in the U.S. Open, the upsurge in registered COVID-19 cases in the United States and New York, in particular, are not playing into the event’s hands.”
He is back in training from Tuesday with Troicki.