Djokovic beaten as tour’s Montenegro leg is scrapped

BELGRADE (Reuters): World number one Novak Djokovic lost one of his two opening singles matches on Saturday 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.

“I am so sad for the Montenegro leg,” he told the Balkan nation’s Sport Klub television in a courtside interview in front of a capacity 4,000 crowd.

“We tried everything, but the borders are still not open and we don’t have time to organise it all.”

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.

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.

Sets have been slashed to the best of seven games, with eight players competing in two pools on a round-robin basis.

Having beaten Troicki in straight sets, Djokovic lost 4-2, 2-4, 1-4 to Krajinovic.