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Get unlimited access to our expert Premier League analysis with a sport-only Telegraph subscription - £40 for 12 months (less than £1 a week) World No 1 Novak Djokovic was among the players undergoing emergency Covid-19 tests in Croatia on Sunday night after it emerged that Grigor Dimitrov – the Bulgarian who performed in Adria Tour exhibition events over the past two weekends – has contracted the virus. Tournament organisers were forced to cancel Sunday night’s scheduled final between Djokovic and Andrey Rublev as the players were ordered back to the official hotel for tests. The possibility of contagion is high, especially in light of the breathtaking lack of regard for safety precautions that has been shown throughout the event. Players have routinely been embracing and high-fiving, or playing contact sports such as football or basketball in between their matches. During the Belgrade part of the tour, they were filmed dancing together in a nightclub with their shirts off. And with a strong field that also includes Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic and Borna Coric, this one positive case could potentially have lasting repercussions. The Adria Tour was set up by Djokovic as a way of reintroducing tennis to the Balkans. The tournament put out a defensive statement on Sunday night saying that “at all times, we have strictly followed the epidemiological measures in place”. These are very limited in Serbia and Croatia because of the relatively low number of Covid cases that have developed there. Yet, while no rules may have been broken, the devil-may-care attitude of the players – many of whom had travelled large distances to participate – always looked highly suspect, and is now proven to have been simply irresponsible. In an Instagram post that showed him wearing a facemask, Dimitrov wrote: “I tested positive back in Monaco for Covid-19. I want to make sure anyone who has been in contact with me during these past days gets tested and takes the necessary precautions. I am so sorry for any harm I might have caused.”
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