Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday said that he had tested positive for COVID-19, making him the highest-profile tennis player to reveal he has the disease.
The 29-year-old Bulgarian had been competing in the Adria Tour exhibition tournament in Croatia until he withdrew after feeling ill at the weekend.
The final of the Croatia event in the coastal resort of Zadar, the second leg of the tour which would have featured world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Russian Andrey Rublev, was canceled as a result.
Photo: Reuters
“I want to reach out and let my fans and friends know that I tested positive back in Monaco for COVID-19,” Dimitrov wrote on Instagram. “I want to make sure anyone who has been in contact with me during these past days gets tested and takes the necessary precautions. I am so sorry for any harm I might have caused. I am back home now and recovering. Thanks for your support and please stay safe and healthy.”
Goran Ivanisevic, the director of the tour’s Zadar leg and Djokovic’s coach, was greeted with jeers from the fans when he broke the news.
“We have just been informed that Grigor Dimitrov has tested positive for coronavirus and we will have to call off the final of the tournament in Zadar,” Ivanisevic said. “Unfortunately, we had to make the decision as we don’t want anybody else to catch the virus.”
Dimitrov pulled out of the tournament on Saturday after he felt unwell following his opening match against Croatia’s Borna Coric.
With international tennis suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Djokovic organized the Adria Tour as a charity event designated to be contested over four legs across the former Yugoslavia.
Austrian world No. 3 Dominic Thiem won the opening leg in Belgrade, where a capacity 4,000 crowd turned up each day at Djokovic’s tennis center by the River Danube.
With both Serbia and Croatia easing lockdown measures weeks before the event, players were not obliged to observe social distancing rules in either nation and were seen embracing at the net at the end of their matches.
However, fans in Croatia were subject to the rules and had to keep their distance, meaning that the 9,000-capacity Visnjik tennis complex was only half full.
The third leg due in Montenegro at the weekend was canceled last week over coronavirus concerns, while the final leg, scheduled for Friday and Saturday next week in Bosnia’s Banja Luka, is also likely to be called off.
Djokovic’s brother, Djordje, the director of the tour, said that everyone who had been in contact with Dimitrov would be tested.
“After receiving the news, we took all the measures stipulated by the Croatian government and everyone who has had any contact with Grigor will be tested,” he said in an interview.
“This came as a huge shock,” Ivanisevic added. “I tested negative three days ago, although I was in Grigor’s proximity, and despite the bad news I want to thank the Djokovic family for making the effort.”
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