Nemanja Matic blasts Novak Djokovic's critics, says 'the mice have come out of their holes’

Novak Djokovic is going through the arguably the worst phase of his career. Grigor Dimitrov's positive test for COVID-19 opened up a Pandora's box of players (and a whole lot of other people) - including Djokovic himself - to have contracted coronavirus as result of being involved in the Adria Tour exhibition tournament.

The Serbian legend has been at the receiving end of relentless backlash and merciless trolling on social media, with only a small group of fans showing the beleaguered tennis icon any sympathy.

However, Serbian footballer and Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic has come to the defense of his compatriot. Matic thinks Djokovic didn't do any wrong - except for apologizing.

Novak Djokovic's countrymen come to the defense of their favorite son

Novak Djokovic (L) and Grigor Dimitrov

Although Novak Djokovic's international image and perception seem to be at an all-time low, he has lost no fans in his home country. The Serbian media has been relentlessly trying to shift the blame for the Adria Tour disaster on to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Novak's father, the quintessential troublemaker Srdjan Djokovic, straight up accused Dimitrov of spreading the virus in Serbia and Croatia, while trying to project his family as the victims in the whole saga.

Even in Croatia, where the virus was pretty much re-introduced due to the Adria Tour, there seem to be no hard feelings towards Novak Djokovic. The country, like its sister Serbia, has focused solely on vilifying Grigor Dimitrov.

Novak Djokovic himself, however, has seemed pretty remorseful in the aftermath of the Adria Tour mess. Since testing positive, the Serbian icon has twice apologized for going ahead with the tour the way he did. He has said he is 'deeply sorry' for everything that went down, while admitting that the organizers went massively wrong in assessing the situation.

Nemanja Matic thinks Novak Djokovic's Adria Tour was a 'great' tournament

Nemanja Matic feels putting human lives at risk was not wrong

However, Manchester United's midfield star Nemanja Matic believes that Djokovic should never have apologized. The 31-year-old has penned an open letter to his fellow Serb, saying that it is only a matter of time before Djokovic's detractors apologize back.

The footballer used some very powerful words for those criticizing Novak Djokovic, calling them 'mice' who have come out of their holes.

We are carrying Matic's open letter in its entirety, so that the extent of his support can be gauged.

I see that in the last few days, there has been a campaign against Novak Djokovic for organizing a tournament in Belgrade, although according to the laws of the state of Serbia, everything was in order and it was organized at a high level.

Despite that, the mice have come out of their holes giving themselves the right to criticize the world number one, both in terms of tennis, but also in his attitude toward all the people in the world.

However, I’m not worried. Very soon the cat (read, Nole) will be on the court, and the mice back in the hole.

The tournament was great and I hope it will become traditional, because our tennis deserves it.

The only thing I hold against Novak that he apologized to the mice who criticize him for no reason.

No, Nole. They will be apologizing to you – soon.

Greetings to all the people of this world, from Manchester.

Nemanja Matic

In effect, Matic was reiterating Djokovic's earlier stance about the Adria Tour, when the eight-time Australian Open champ had said that the situation in the Balkans was under control compared to the rest of the world. Djokovic had asserted that everything at the Adria Tour was approved under the Serbian as well as Croatian governments' guidelines, before the slew of positive tests brought about a dramatic reality check.

Nemanja Matic then went on to launch a scathing attack on those pointing out the mistakes committed by the World No. 1, and asserted that 'mice' have no right to criticize the great champion. Matic further said he believed that the 'cat' (Djokovic) would soon be back to feast on the mice, forcing them to run back into their holes.

The former Chelsea star ended his note by criticizing Djokovic for the only thing Matic felt the cat did wrong: apologizing to the mice.

While Matic may be right about the mice - that is, the rest of the world - having no achievements that can compare to Novak Djokovic's, the football star has shown a startling inability to understand that the issue here is human life.

When it comes to hitting perfect backhands, everyone will concede that Novak Djokovic cannot and should not be criticized. But when it comes to endangering lives through sheer callousness, perhaps a little more perspective is required - even if you are from the same country as the one doing the endangering.