Djokovic-led tour comes into focus as European exhibition swing begins

Novak Djokovic has provided a line-up of the players who will be competing in his recently announced Adria Tour, which begins next month and is played across four Balkan nations.

The two-day events will start on in Belgrade, Serbia, at Djokovic's academy, and then move to Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia.

In addition to No. 1-ranked Djokovic, No. 3 Dominic Thiem, No. 7 Alexander Zverev and No. 19 Grigor Dimitrov will be the top players competing.

"I am delighted that Dominic Thiem, Grigor Dimitrov and Alexander Zverev will be my guests," Djokovic told Serbian press at Belgrade. "The three big names, they will all play in the opening leg in Belgrade. Zverev might play in Croatia too, while Dimitrov could appear in Croatia and in Montenegro."

Djokovic, who said he had been training regularly on a private court in Marbella, noted that some arrangements were still being made for the exhibitions.

"Bosnia and Montenegro are still not 100 percent as the hosts of the final two legs because we haven't had enough time to prepare the infrastructure," he said.

Along with Djokovic, No. 184 Viktor Troicki, No. 107 Damir Dzumhur, and "other major European players" will play a round-robin competition, with two groups of four players each during the first three stops. Djokovic and Dzumhur, who is from Sarajevo, Bosnia, are scheduled for an exhibition there to finish the tour.

The proceeds will go to the "humanitarian projects in the region," including the Novak Djokovic foundation, per a statement. There will also be a Serbian national championships the week before, which will be a qualifying event.

Djokovic isn't the only player holding events while the tour is suspended.

His fellow Serb, the recently-retired Janko Tipsarevic, is organizing an "Eastern European championships" in Belgrade starting June 15, which also involves some of the same players, including Troicki and Dzumhur, along with top Croats Borna Coric and Marin Cilic, along with other men's and women's players from Eastern Europe.

Starting June 4, Donna Vekic has organized an event for her national federation in Osijek, Croatia, where she is an ambassador for the region. The three-day event will include 20 top Croatian men's and women's players, including Vekic, Ana Konjuh, Cilic and Coric.

"I am very excited that we will all play competitive tennis together again, but also start improving our games for, I hope, the WTA and ATP tours starting soon," she said.

Proceeds will be donated to charitable efforts in the region.

A seven-week German tour organized by the German tennis federation will also begin next week, featuring 32 male and 24 female players, including Jan-Lennard Struff and Laura Siegemund.

This week, two national events are underway. Several Czech players are contesting eight-player exhibitions in Prague, organized by the Czech tennis federation.

"We are here, not to bring tennis back to the Czech Republic, but to the world," said Petra Kvitova.

Kvitova and Barbora Strycova are the top female players competing, while Jiri Vesely is the top male player.

An Austrian pro event with eight-player men's and women's fields is also being played, with Thiem, Jurgen Melzer and Tamira Paszek among those competing.

The events plan to follow requirements for restricted or no spectators. The ATP and WTA's usual rules around exhibition events are on hold during the tour suspension.