Djokovic beaten as Adria Tour's Montenegro leg scrapped

Video Credit: Reuters - Sports
Published on June 14, 2020 - Duration: 03:43s

Djokovic beaten as Adria Tour's Montenegro leg scrapped

World number one Novak Djokovic discusses how one of his newly-created event's four legs has been scrapped due to coronavirus concerns.


Djokovic beaten as Adria Tour's Montenegro leg scrapped

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT VIDEO SHOWS: NOVAK DJOKOVIC TRAINING ON OUTSIDE COURT / NOVAK DJOKOVIC AT NEWS CONFERENCE / DJOKOVIC'S COACH GORAN IVANISEVIC AT NEWS CONFERENCE AHEAD OF THE FIRST DAY OF CHARITY TENNIS TOURNAMENT IN BELGRADE / DOMINIC THIEM AT NEWS CONFERENCE / PLAYERS TRAINING SHOWS: BELGRADE, SERBIA (JUNE 13, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1.

VARIOUS OF NOVAK DJOKOVIC TRAINING ON OUTDOOR COURT OF HIS TENNIS COMPLEX IN BELGRADE 2.

DJOKOVIC ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE AFTER MATCH, MEDIA TAKING PICTURES 3.

MEDIA AT NEWS CONFERENCE 4.

(SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) NOVAK DJOKOVIC, ON MONTENEGRO LEG BEING SCRAPPED, SAYING: "Of course, I feel sad and disappointed.

We have tried very hard to carry that out and it did not come to a realization.

There is nothing more to it - we are turning a new page.

We do have several options, alternatives, we have several other locations, but I will not reveal them at this point.

You will get to know them within the next couple of days.

There is not much time, and so if we want the tournament to be held on the third week, we'll have to give a final confirmation tomorrow.

So, I believe that tomorrow, the day after tomorrow at the latest - we will know the location and in what way we will make it (work)." 5.

JOURNALIST WORKING ON A LAPTOP COMPUTER 6.

DJOKOVIC SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS ON FANS' CAPS, VARIOUS VOICES SAYING 'THANK YOU', 'THANK YOU FOR THIS FOR OUR COUNTRY' 7.

DJOKOVIC'S COACH, GORAN IVANISEVIC, DURING TRAINING 8.

IVANISEVIC AND MODERATOR ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE 9.

PERSON FILMING WITH SMARTPHONE 10.

(SOUNDBITE) (Croatian) GORAN IVANISEVIC, DJOKOVIC'S COACH, SAYING: "The problem is - if it comes to that (a tennis player getting infected with the coronavirus) - if a single player gets infected, it has nothing to do with ATP or with ITF anymore.

Then the American government takes over.

And then Trump may say, 'aha, all two hundred and something players have to go into quarantine'.

It means there will be no tennis until who knows when.

It is a bit too risky.

In my opinion - if it should get going - (then it should) start with Madrid, Rome, or Roland-Garros in September.

That is somewhat more likely than the U.S. Open." 11.

NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS/MEDIA TAKING PICTURES 12.

VARIOUS OF PLAYERS, INCLUDING ALEXANDER ZVEREZ, TRAINING 13.

PEOPLE FILMING DOMINIC THIEM ON SMARTPHONES DURING NEWS CONFERENCE 14.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) DOMINIC THIEM, ON RETURN OF TENNIS, SAYING: "I think it depends on how the things develop, how everything moves on with the ATP tour, with the real tournaments.

But if it's still gonna take a while until the normal tour continues - events like the Adria Tour are super-important for players that we can compete again, for fans, that they can see tennis, and for all tennis fans around the world because they can follow on TV.

After a long time without tennis they can watch tennis on TV again.

So, as long as the normal tour doesn't continue in its normal way, events like Adria Tour or other exhibition events are super-important." 15.

DOMINIC THIEM LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE STORY: World number one Novak Djokovic lost one of his two opening singles matches on Saturday (June 13) at the charity tournament he organised, and his day got worse when news broke that one of the event's four legs has been scrapped due to coronavirus concerns.

Shortly after beating fellow Serbian Viktor Troicki in his opening match, Djokovic said he was disappointed that the Adria Tour's third leg in Montenegro, scheduled for June 27-28, had been called off.

With 12,251 confirmed cases and 253 deaths related to COVID-19, Serbia is among the countries whose residents are not allowed to travel to its southern neighbour Montenegro.

Earlier on Saturday, Djokovic's younger brother Djordje and the Adria Tour director, released a statement saying the event's board had decided to scrap the Montenegro leg.

Asked at a news conference after his defeat by Filip Krajinovic whether there was an alternative host nation able to replace Montenegro in a fortnight, Djokovic said they had options, but that he was not prepared to reveal them yet.

The second leg will be held in Croatia's coastal resort of Zadar on June 20-21 and the final one in Bosnia's Banja Luka on July 3-4.

The tournament, organised by Djokovic while international tennis remains suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has drawn some household names and adopted a more streamlined format than the main tour events.

(Production: Branko Filipovic, Branko Filipovic)

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