Dayana Yastremska, the WTA no. 25 has voiced her support for Novak Djokovic after the media attempted to villainize him for the failed Adria Tour exhibition series in Belgrade where the players did not adhere to strict virus social distancing guidelines.
On Instagram the 20 year old Yastremska wrote: When you are famous, when you compete at the top level, the eyes of a thousand are inevitably chained to you. The first one has to accept the role of the ambassador of a sort, while he becomes a role model for many.
It doesn’t matter if you play at side court or in the central arena – as a tennis player, you always try to show the best you can and share the emotions with your team and other people around you.
Tennis is an incredible sport, with a long history and unique culture. Things that are happening in the world this year are unthinkable and are undoubtfully a massive blow to our favorite sport.
Every tennis player had their plans, aspirations, and goals for this year. Now, and I am sure about that, every one of us has only these questions in the head. These questions are: “When we start playing and giving people joy and inspiration?” and “When we will finally start to do our favorite thing?”
I am afflicted and upset by the situation that has emerged around the organization of the “Adria Tour” tournament in Serbia. The organizers and players of the event found themselves under tremendous pressure. It is somehow even getting out of sight that this competition was held in compliance with country’s norms and regulations. If I had an opportunity to host the same kind of tournament, I would not hesitate a second.
I am the head and organizer of “Diya” Charity Foundation that directly helped people at the course of the pandemic. I also created a clip to educate people about a virus. I know that this threat is severe and invisible, which makes it dangerous. However, I am also perfectly aware that we live in the age of liberty when everyone can make their own decisions and can become whoever he wants. I would not be a tennis player today if this freedom did not occur twenty-nine years ago in my country. It is this freedom and independence that demands that everyone should be responsible for themselves and their actions. It means that everyone has a right of choice and personal responsibility.
Adria Tour · Djokovic · Serbia · Yastremska
JohnnyTD · June 29, 2020 at 1:10 pm
Well, people could blame the Serbian government too, looks like they covered up the real number of Covid cases before the elections:
https://europeanwesternbalkans.com/2020/06/25/serbia-covered-up-the-real-number-of-covid-19-cases-before-elections-claims-birn/
Their defence minister Aleksandar Vulin and other government officials are infected too.
Maybe if Djoko had known the real Covid data he would have cancelled the tourney before.