June 24, 2020 - The president of the Croatian Tennis Federation, Nikolina Babic, spoke about the coronavirus outbreak at the Adria Tour in Zadar.

Index.hr reports that Nikolina Babic is a member of political party HDZ, and at one time, she was in parliament for 13 days as Darko Horvat's deputy. Babic called in on Skype because she was self-isolating

Babic told Index that, despite following all the recommendations of keeping a two-meter distance indoors and contact that did not last longer than 15 minutes, she went into self-isolation.

"This was a big organization and there was a great desire to organize a tournament in Zadar and Croatia, and to present it with popular players. We did everything in good faith, but what happened, happened," she said.

She also answered the question of why they didn't ensure that matches were monitored according to the regulations?

"We sold tickets according to the recommendation, in all our speeches, we asked the spectators to adhere to the regulations and distances. I don’t know exactly how many tickets were sold, I think about a third. The players themselves were not in contact with other actors, and I'm talking about 15 minutes, the players stopped, took photos, went on, the most threats were among themselves," she said.

She added that there were security guards on the Tour who kept order and disinfectants and that they adhered to the measures.

"There were more than 100 of them, and there were disinfectants everywhere, we adhered to the measures. The virus is among us and will be among us. Life will not stop, and first of all, we must protect ourselves and everything around us. This was all outdoors and there was certainly less risk to it. In other parts of Croatia, there are many more infected without such an event," she added.

She also said the measures did not require tennis players to be tested earlier.

"The measures that were in Croatia did not require it, as foreigners who come to Croatia are not obliged to be tested. If it weren't for Dimitrov, a tennis player, a star, there wouldn't be such tension and a story about this tournament. Of course, it happened that a famous player was infected. Zadar was 'alive', everyone thanked us, the caterers, bookings were full, a nice presentation was given, but unfortunately, what happened happened," she added.

She also commented on Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who is not in self-isolation.

“Okay, I mean, we know what close contact is, longer than 15 minutes indoors at less than two meters. I was with the Prime Minister from when he arrived to when he left. He really wasn't in any close contact with the tennis players, that is, with Djokovic, except for the picture with Djokovic circulating where he patted him on the shoulder for 30 seconds. 

I'm sorry, if it weren't for the elections, Zadar wouldn't have the connotation it has ... Political targets for political purposes… it's certainly not good and I'm extremely sorry. From the very beginning, the Prime Minister adhered to regulations and measures and guards and watches. Certainly, and considering his function, he cannot be in self-isolation, as he is really very exclusive in that," she said. The journalist interrupted Babic, saying that he did not agree.

Babic added that she was in self-isolation because she had been in Zadar all week and that she was doing it preventively, and that she herself would not have been in self-isolation if she had been in contact with the tennis player for five or ten minutes.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

May 23, 2020 - At the initiative of Novak Djokovic, and in cooperation with the Croatian Tennis Federation, tennis stars will flock to Zadar in June to kick off summer in Croatia.

Gol.hrGol.hr reports that the most beautiful postcard will be sent to the world from Zadar next month, officially kicking off the summer tourist season in Croatia! Namely, some of the best tennis players in the world will play in a series of tournaments from June 13 to July 5, called the Adria Tour, and one of the host cities will be Zadar, it was confirmed on Friday.

The organizer of the tournament is the best tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic, who gathered some of the leading players of today, including Croatian tennis players. The first tournament will be played on the courts of TC Novak in Belgrade on June 13 and 14, followed by Zadar's Višnjik (June 20 and 21), before the tournament moves to Montenegro (June 27 and 28), and Banja Port (July 3 and 4).

Among others, participation in at least one of the competitions, apart from the organizer Novak Djokovic, was confirmed by leading Croatian tennis players, led by Borna Coric and Marin Cilic, and Austrian Dominic Thiem and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, to name a few.

It is a humanitarian competition, from which, among other things, the proceeds will be directed to programs for the development and education of children, and in sports terms, will be a great opportunity for matches at the highest level at a time when there is a break in official competitions due to the coronavirus.

They will be played in groups so that each tennis player will have two matches on Saturday, and one on Sunday, when the finals between the two best will be scheduled. It is planned to be played on two won sets on four games.

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January 5, 2019 - The Croatia national tennis team is off to a great start in Sydney for the first-ever ATP Cup, topping Austria 3:0 in their first round of games on Saturday.

At the premiere of the ATP Cup, in the first round of Group E in Sydney, Croatian tennis players defeated the Austria national team 3:0! 

The winning team was decided already after the singles matches - first Marin Cilic celebrated with a comeback against Dennis Novak (108th on ATP list) - 6:7 (4), 6:4, 6:4, and Borna Coric surprised the 4th best tennis player in the world, Dominic Thiem - 7:6 (4), 2:6, 6:3. 

In the doubles match, Ivan Dodig and Nikola Mektic were better than Austrian Jurgen Melzer and Oliver Marach 7:6 (4), 6:2.

Marin lost the first set to Novak, but found a way to celebrate in the end.

"It was an extremely difficult match, a real thriller. Dennis played at a high level. It was a great match to start the new season,” Marin said after the win.

Borna, who lost six matches to finish last season, opened 2020 with a massive win against Thiem. It was Borna’s second win in their five meetings thus far, and his 12th career win against one of the top 10 players in the world last year.

"I'm really happy. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect from this performance, especially since I didn't play my best tennis last season. Well, it was great. Even though I lost the second set, I felt I was playing really well. In the third set, I played bravely on important points, and in the end, it paid off. This success will further fill me with confidence for the matches to come,” Borna said with special thanks to the Croatia fans in attendance.

"Thanks to them for their support, they carried me through the whole match, and especially at the end of the match, when it was the hardest for me."

The key to Croatia’s doubles victory was winning the first set in which Dodig and Mektic were losing 5:3. At 5:4, they saved a set-point and after the tie-break lead 1:0. They had no problem in the second set.

“Despite the final 3:0, the whole round against Austria was extremely uncertain and interesting, with just the singles matches lasted for almost six hours. In the doubles, the first set was also exciting, but it was easier for us in the second,” Nikola Mektic said.

Croatia will play their second match on Monday against Poland, who lost to Argentina 2:1 in the first round.

Source: HTS

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