By Ricky Dimon
A couple of tennis exhibition events have been cropping up here and there in recent weeks, giving the Tennis Channel at least something with which to appease fans during the coronavirus hiatus. Those were all well and good, but the next exhibition could be the biggest and best of all while we wait for the real tours to return.
The Adria Tour, put on by Novak Djokovic and his foundation, will begin in Belgrade from Friday through Sunday. Participating players include Djokovic, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic, Borna Coric, Grigor Dimitrov, and Viktor Troicki.
Due to the star-studded field and the fact that sports fans are starved to attend live action, tickets for this event flew off the market at an impressive rate. After all 1,000 tickets that were initially available sold in a mere seven minutes, 1,000 more were put on the market. Tournament officials have assured that proper safety procedures–including social distancing of six feet between spectators–will be utilized throughout the weekend.
“I was overjoyed to see that the first set of 1,000 tickets sold out in just seven minutes, and that there was so much demand for tickets,” Djokovic commented. “Because of all this, we are seriously considering whether we can add two or three thousand more seats at the stadium in order to provide an opportunity for more people to be able to come to the stadium.
“On the other hand, we will have a tournament village in TC Novak. For all those who do not get tickets, they will be able to enter the complex for free, enjoy the music program, watch matches via video beam, and feel part of the atmosphere,”
Following the Belgrade festivities, the Adria Tour is expected to make stops in Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia between now and July 5. According to Goran Ivanisevic, who is part of Djokovic’s coaching team, up to 4,500 fans will be allowed to attend in Croatia.
In other exhibition tournament news, Patrick Mouratoglou is hosting the Ultimate Tennis Showdown later this month in France. Unsurprisingly, Thiem–who is well known to play as much tennis as humanly possible–will also make an appearance at that event. Among the other participants are Stefanos Tsitsipas, Matteo Berrettini, and David Goffin.
Ricky contributes to10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.