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.
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