Novak Djokovic 'disappointed' as Adria Tour's Montenegro leg gets scrapped

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball to Filip Krajinovic of Serbia during the Adria Tour charity exhibition hosted by Djokovic in Belgrade on Saturday. Getty

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball to Filip Krajinovic during the Adria Tour charity exhibition in Belgrade. Getty

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball to Filip Krajinovic. Getty

Filip Krajinovic of Serbia after winning the match against Novak Djokovic in Belgrade. Getty

Filip Krajinovic defeated Novak Djokovic in Belgrade on Saturday. Getty

Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning against Viktor Troicki in Belgrade. Getty

Viktor Troicki lost to Novak Djokovic in Belgrade. Getty

Chair umpire Marijana Veljovic during the match between Alexander Zverev of Germany and Filip Krajinovic of Serbia during the Adria Tour charity exhibition. Getty

Dominic Thiem of Austria returns the ball to Dusan Lajovic of Serbia during the Adria Tour. Getty

Dusan Lajovic of Serbia returns the ball to Dominic Thiem in Belgrade. Getty

Dominic Thiem returns the ball to Dusan Lajovic during the Adria Tour charity exhibition. Getty

Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria returns to Nikola Milojevic of Serbia. Getty

Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria during his match against Serbia's Nikola Milojevic. Getty

Alexander Zverev serves to Filip Krajinovic. Getty

Novak Djokovic lost one of his two opening matches on Saturday at the Adria Tour charity tournament, 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, world No1 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 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.

Earlier on Saturday, 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.

Asked at a news conference after his defeat by Filip Krajinovic whether there was an alternative host nation able to replace Montenegro in a fortnight, Djokovic said: "We are looking at several alternative options and locations which I don't want to reveal at this point.

"We are running out of time so we will know where we stand either tomorrow or the day after."

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 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.

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

After beating Troicki in straight sets, Djokovic lost 4-2, 2-4, 1-4 to Krajinovic.

Second seed and Austrian world No3 Dominic Thiem beat 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.