It was inevitable folks. As the Adria Tour attempted to pick up the pieces from a cautious and conservative ATP and WTA opening, a slew of players now tested positive for Covid 19, including Novak Djokovic. There was an almost grandstanding disregard for caution and restrictions during these events, so it’s no surprise that we are now seeing all the positive cases. Djokovic said, “we were wrong, and it was too soon”. That’s an understatement.

For whatever reason, the Adria Tour went ahead without taking any sort of precaution, holding outside events on a daily basis, such as soccer matches, restaurant outings and more – with lots of hugging and touching. Experts have told us during the pandemic that these are exactly the types of behavior that should be avoided. However, given the low rate of infection in Serbia and Croatia, I guess organizers thought they were in the clear.

In addition to Djokovic, we now know that superstars Dimitrov and Coric also tested positive earlier in the week. I’m sure there will be many more in the days ahead. The Adria Tour seems to be cancelled for the time being. Initially, it seemed as though the Adria was going to fill some gaps before the kickoff of the ATP and WTA tours. In hindsight, they could have been a lot more careful, and filled that gap they so desperately tried to fill.

All this is in stark contrast to how the Credit One Invitational in Charleston is handling their exhibition tournament. As this team tournament kicked off today, there were no spectators, the referee wore a mask during the coin toss, there was obvious social distancing between players, and the ball kids wore masks and picked up balls with scoops and put them in baskets for players to grab. After what has happened at the Adria Tour, this is probably more in line with how we’ll see tennis moving forward.

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