NOVAK’S CHARITY TOUR CUT

WORLD No.1 Novak Djokovic had a win and a loss in singles at the Adria Tour charity mini-tour he organised.

His day became worse when news broke that one of the event’s four legs in the Balkans had been scrapped due to coronavirus concerns.

Soon after defeating fellow Serbian Viktor Troicki in his opening match in Belgrade, Djokovic said he was disappointed the 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 4000 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.

Earlier, Djokovic’s younger brother Djordje and the Adria Tour director released a statement saying the event’s board had decided to scrap the Montenegro leg.

The second leg will be held in Croatia’s coastal resort of Zadar on June 20-21 and the final one in Bosnia’s Banja Luka on July 3-4.

The mini-tour, 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.

Matches will be played in Fast4 format with eight players competing in two pools on a round-robin basis.

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

Dominic Thiem defeated Damir Dzumhur in minutes as the Bosnian retired in the opening set with a hamstring injury, but had to save a match point in his 1-4, 4-1, 4-3 win over Dusan Lajovic.

Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov beat Lajovic in three sets but was stunned 4-1, 4-3 by home crowd favourite Nikola Milojevic — drafted in to replace Dzumhur. Alexander Zverev defeated Krajinovic 0-4, 4-3, 4-3 and was playing Troicki in a late match starting after midnight local time.

The third-round pool matches will be played overnight followed by a final between the group winners.