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During the first two legs of the Adria Tour, Djokovic and his fellow participants were seen mingling in close proximity on numerous occasions, opting not to adhere to social distancing. There were plenty of hugs to go around upon arrival, at the press conference and after each match finished. In Belgrade, Dimitrov was photographed guarding Djokovic closely on the basketball court, and the two joined the rest of the group for some fun on the soccer field. All celebrated the success of the first weekend by partying at a nightclub, sans shirts at times. Serbian actor Milos Bikovic, who attended the outing with Djokovic that evening, also tested positive for the coronavirus.
The U.S. Embassy in Serbia states that outdoor public gatherings were limited to a maximum of 500 people as of June 5. There was incredible demand in Belgrade for Adria Tour organizers, who sold out of its first 1000 tickets on June 3, and added another 1,000 as a result. They claimed this would be done “while respecting the recommended measures of safety and appropriate social distance of at least one meter between spectators.”
That didn’t appear to be the case, though after criticism began to spread following the Belgrade portion of the event, Djokovic told *Eurosport*, “It’s hard to explain to people that the situation is really, really different maybe in America or the UK than it is in Serbia or surrounding countries, and obviously from the day one of the organisation of the Adria Tour, [we have been] following the rules and the measures that have been regulated by obviously the government institution and the public health institution.
“We have never crossed those lines, so we always waited for them to give us a green light whether we could or could not have the crowd, and then we asked them once we could have, how much we could have, whether there was a social distancing or not.”
According to the *Balkan Investigative Reporting Network* (BIRN), Serbia’s reported death and infection rates do not align with the state’s COVID-19 database. BIRN found that one data set, from June 17 to 20, showed that 300 people were infected per day, far higher than the highest reported figure of 97 during that period. The outlet stated it has attempted “to contact Serbia’s health minister, the prime minister’s office, several expert members of the national Crisis Staff and many of the directors of Serbia’s clinical centres, but they either did not answer BIRN’s calls or declined to respond to questions.”
Dimitrov's manager, Georgi Stoimenov, admitted to errors in judgment on *This Morning* in Bulgaria. “Each of us made a mistake. We weren't as disciplined as we should have been,” he said in a translation. “We were constantly with people and maybe only 20% had the virus. All the people around Grigor have negative tests.”
Stoimenov added that Dimtrov is “recovering gradually” after arriving in Monaco unwell. The Bulgarian underwent full body tests in place of a specific one for COVID-19, before the discovering he was carrying the virus.
The remaining two stops of the Adria Tour have been canceled, which Djokovic addressed on social media Tuesday afternoon.
