MELBOURNE, Australia — The presenter at the center of Novak Djokovic’s decision to boycott on-court interviews at the Australian Open has apologized to the 24-time Grand Slam champion, saying that he “overstepped the mark.”
Channel 9 presenter Tony Jones was overlooking a group of Serbian fans while recording a dispatch from Melbourne Park Friday night. Joining in with their chants in support of Djokovic, he added his own lyrics: “Novak is overrated … Novak’s a has-been … Novak kick him out.”
The “kick him out” comment appeared to refer to when Djokovic was deported from Australia ahead of the 2022 tournament, after the government canceled his visa over Covid-19 protocols.
“I considered it to be humor,” Jones said in a segment on Channel 9’s morning show.
He then claimed that he apologized to Djokovic’s camp on the Saturday morning, before adding: “The disrespect extended in many ways to the Serbian fans … I thought what I was doing was an extension of that banter. Quite clearly what I was doing wasn’t interpreted that way.
“I know we’ve all got PhDs in hindsight … I think the one thing where I overstepped the mark — and this is certainly what’s really angered Novak Djokovic and his camp — is the last comment I made in that back-and-forth with the crowd, ‘Kick him out.’”
Jones then claimed that he had asked Djokovic’s camp for a face-to-face meeting to discuss his comments.
Djokovic’s camp did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Jones’ claim that he apologized Saturday, or that he asked to meet in person.
The situation between Jones and Djokovic escalated after Djokovic’s fourth-round win over Jiri Lehecka on Rod Laver Arena Sunday night, when Djokovic declined to do an on-court interview with ex-player Jim Courier. When he entered his post-match news conference, he explained that the boycott was prompted by what he called “insulting and offensive” comments from Jones.
“A couple of days ago the famous sports journalist who works for official broadcaster, Channel 9 here in Australia, made a mockery of Serbian fans and also made insulting and offensive comments towards me. And since then, he chose not to issue any public apology. Neither did Channel 9. So since they’re official broadcasters, I chose not to give interviews for Channel 9,” he said.
Djokovic will return to Rod Laver Arena Tuesday, for his quarterfinal against Carlos Alcaraz. He is yet to respond to Jones’ apology.
(Photo: Andy Cheung / Getty Images)
