Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios has criticised Alexander Zverev as a video, which showed him partying, surfaced on Sunday, after the German had said he would practice self-isolation for 14 days following his participation in the Adria Tour.
Reports said the video was posted on Instagram stories by designer Philipp Plein and later deleted.
Calling the act selfish, Kyrgios posted stories on Instagram, slamming Zverev’s “audacity” to say that he would self-isolate, but not following it through.
“So I wake up and I see more controversial things happening all over the world. But one thing that stuck out for me was seeing ‘Sascha’ (Alexander) Zverev again man, again, again. How selfish can you be? How selfish can you be?” Kyrgios says as he is seen driving.
“If you have the audacity to f*****g put out a tweet that you made your management write on your behalf saying you’re going to self-isolate for 14 days and apologising to f*****g general public for putting their health at risk, at least have the audacity to stay inside for 14 days.”
Zverev was part of the ill-fated Adria Tour hosted by world number one Novak Djokovic, who tested positive for the coronavirus after not following distancing and other safety protocols during the event. The COVID-19 results of the 23-year-old came back negative, but he pledged that he would quarantine himself for 14 days.
“I deeply apologise to anyone that I have potentially put at risk by playing this tour. I will proceed to follow the self-isolating guidelines advised by our doctors. As an added precaution my team and I will continue with regular testing,” Zverev had said in a statement.
Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, Croatia’s Borna Coric and Serbia’s Viktor Troicki who participated in the Adria Tour had tested positive.
Djokovic, who later apologised for going ahead with the tournament, was heavily criticised for organising the event as plans are on to resume tennis amid the pandemic. Players were seen hugging, partying and playing basketball together, all the while ignoring social distancing norms during the tour. The event also saw spectators packed into stands after the Serbian and Croatian governments relaxed the rules.
