The best tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic, has used a religious aphorism on his Instagram pTo say that it will not sink after the barrage of criticism received by the positives of COVID-19 – himself among them – that occurred in the charity tournament that he organized in the Balkans.
“Ships do not sink because of the water that surrounds them, but because of the water that enters them. Do not allow what surrounds you to enter you and drag you to the bottom”, Pray the message that Djokovic spread in a story on his Instagram.
The Adria Tour, an exhibition tournament in the Balkans organized by Djokovic, with public and without distancing, it resulted in at least a dozen infected.
Djokovic's Cyrillic message is actually – according to Serbian media – a quote from the late Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Pavle (1990-2009), whose image appears next to the message.
“Djokovic responds that he will not be sunk by criticism”, and “Djokovic responds with a message to his critics”, are some of the interpretations that the Balkan press highlights about his message.
Five Balkan tennis stars, two coaches and three other people who participated in the charity tournament organized by Djokovic this month in Belgrade and Zadar (Croatia), were positive for COVID-19.
The critics had already appeared before knowing those positives due to the public attendance and the own attitude of the players, hugs and claps were given in public.
The Serbian Prime Minister, Ana Brnabic, expressed her full support for Djokovic last night and asked his critics to leave him alone.
“(Djokovic) He has all my respect and support. He tried to do something good for the entire region: raise money for humanitarian purposes.”, maintained the prime minister.