Critical voices towards Novak Djokovic continue after the Adria Tour exhibition tournament, where Djokovic himself and other players such as Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki tested positive on COVID-19 in a tournament in which the safety and prevention measures against the risk of contagion by coronavirus were conspicuous by their absence.
One of the last critical voices has been that of the Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten. The Brazilian, three-time champion of Roland Garros and former number 1 in the world, said in statements collected by Globoesporte the mistake Djokovic made in holding this tournament. “It was very shocking to see him. It was a real disaster. He has had to retract and apologize publicly. It is important to separate the problems of the event and the inappropriate tournament and a series of serious errors, from the idol, the person who also has an acceptable and historical margin and a resume also full of great successes. Being in that position, and as all humans are right and wrong, everything is bigger, it is universal. You are right and wrong in the same proportion. In a case like this it was unfortunate. It was very important, I think it was already justified and I think this will serve as a reflection to understand and learn about it, it can serve as a good experience for the future. “
However, Kuerten draws a positive point of view about what happened on the Adria Tour, since he believes that the mistakes made can serve as an example of what not to do on the tennis return. “We have to seek the greatest possible benefits from this error for the next tournaments. Djokovic, like Federer and Nadal, has empathy and I hope it was a specific error. There are countries that have a lower risk level and right now tennis doesn't have a formula to celebrate games during the coronavirus. “