'Novak Djokovic gave us a chance to earn money' - Pedja Krstin defends Adria Tour
Serbia's rising star Pedja Krstin has come out in support of his compatriot and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. The 25-year-old feels that the 17-time Grand Slam Champion was the only one who thought about the lower-ranked players; in Krstin's opinion, Djokovic's intent was only to revive tennis.
Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki, along with Djokovic himself, contracted the deadly virus last weekend. Their carelessness has invited criticism from all over the world, but World No. 246 Krstin has backed Djokovic's controversial decision.
In an open letter to the local media, Pedja Krstin spoke at length about the current situation surrounding Novak Djokovic, and why he doesn't deserve all the brickbats coming his way.
Novak Djokovic intended to revive us when we are all in a blockade: Pedja Krstin
While Pedja Krstin did not receive an opportunity to play in front of his home fans in Belgrade, the Serbian player was a part of Group A during the Zadar leg. He lost his matches against Novak Djokovic and Nino Serdarusic to crash out of the competition.
Since he had not played a lot of tennis for almost three months, Krstin thanked the 2016 French Open winner for providing him with an opportunity to earn money. He wrote:
"Full support to my colleague, brother, friend, champion, our Novak, and a big thank you for everything he did for us players. From March until today, the life of all of us tennis players has turned into a journey spiced with a great deal of anxiety and fear."
Further, Krstin opined that Novak Djokovic didn't wish to harm any individual and that his only aim was to revive the game.
"Novak intended to revive us all at a time when we are all in a kind of blockade. And when we all wake up every day with the question of when this will stop, when we return to our normal professional obligations and therefore lives, before the coronavirus that has paralyzed the whole world," he continued.
Pedja Krstin feels Novak Djokovic was the first and only one to come up with the idea to help
Pedja Krstin described how the pandemic has hurt his career, before adding that Novak Djokovic was the only one who came up with an idea to help the lower-ranked players.
"No one but Novak wondered what it was like for us players who don't have big money in bank accounts, who do this business of ours that sounds 'millionaire,' but it's not like that. Novak was the first and only one to come up with an idea, and then he started organizing rescue for us players under 100th place in the world, he gave us a chance to play and earn money that will solve at least a part of our problems in which we are struggling," Krstin wrote.
Lastly, Krstin pointed out that upcoming players couldn't even switch their profession as they had invested a lot of money to reach where they are now. He signed off by thanking Novak Djokovic, and expressed hope that the Adria Tour will have a fairytale ending.
"Novak, thank you for every moment I spent with you on the field, the Adria tour, in that wonderful sports story. This week has brought difficult moments for all of us, for you the most, but you will endure and win, you will come back stronger than ever and again we will all enjoy matches and triumphs together, the big, the biggest ones. I am sure that we will continue the Adria tour and bring that fairytale to the pedestal it deserves."