Pandemic sports: The media reception of Novak Djokovic’s Adria Tour

Abstract

In this article, I deal with the Adria Tour?s media reception, an exhibition tennis tour held in June 2020 in Belgrade, Serbia, and Zadar, Croatia, organised by Novak Djokovic, a high-rank tennis player and one of the most famous public figures in the post-Yugoslav region. Enthusiastically promoted in the media, the Tour eventually failed after several participants, including Djokovic himself, tested positive for the new coronavirus. The Tour fell under heavy criticism, especially in world media, while locally it reignited the Serbian-Croatian national rivalry, dividing the public into pro and contra Djokovic?s behaviour during the pandemic. Drawing on the theoretical platforms of the sociology of sport and nationalism studies, I here problematise the role of a world-leading athlete in the Covid-19 pandemic context, primarily focusing on the reconstruction of the discourses produced on the actual Tour and the fact that Djokovic was infected. Pointing to the ways public figures shape the discourses on pandemics, I also address the role of sociology and cognate disciplines in dealing with the sport as a theoretical issue during the pandemic. I argue that the Adria tour was both an attempt to make a difference in the pandemic world and a means of escapism. It reproduced most of the narratives present in Serbia and Croatia, thus eventually appearing to be a sort of cathartic experience. After the phase of fear and chaos, dealing with the pandemic required recreating the community through the institution of sport and sportspersons.