The tennis great refused to be interviewed on the court after ‘offensive and insulting’ comments were made towards him and the Serbian fans.
A leading TV host apologized on air to Novak Djokovic after he mocked the 24-time Grand Slam winner and Serbian fans at the Australian Open, with Elon Musk and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese among those who got involved in the row.
The 37-year-old tennis great refused to do a routine on-court interview after beating Jiri Lehecka to reach the quarter-finals in Melbourne on Sunday night.
Afterwards, he said it was a protest against Tony Jones, a top sports presenter on the Nine channel, whom he accused of making “offensive and insulting comments” towards him and Serbian fans.
Among other things, Jones labeled Djokovic as a “beer”, but in his apology he said it was a “banter”.
Djokovic said he would boycott interviews for the TV station until he received an apology.
He later posted a short video on X to explain his stance to fans, which has been viewed more than 60 million times and caught the attention of the site’s owner, Musk.
“It’s much better to just talk directly to the public than to go through the legacy media filter of negativity,” Musk posted in response, and Djokovic replied, “Indeed.”
Tennis names including former world number one Boris Becker, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, Jannik Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill and Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka all spoke in support of Djokovic.
The audacity to call Novak Djokovic overrated by journalists is simply insane. The boy literally rounded off tennis by winning everything possible in our sport!
— victoria azarenka (@vika7) January 19, 2025
‘Banter’
“The comments were on the news on Friday night, which I thought was a joke. I thought it was humor, which is in line with most things I do,” Jones said Monday.
“Having said that, on Saturday morning Tennis Australia informed me through Djokovic’s camp that Djokovic’s camp was not at all satisfied with those comments.
“As such, I immediately contacted Djokovic’s camp and apologized to them – 48 hours ago – for any disrespect Novak felt that I caused.
“As I stand here now, I can only stand with an apology to Novak.”
The veteran broadcaster was broadcasting live from Melbourne Park on Friday when a large group of Djokovic fans with Serbian flags started cheering in the background behind him.
Jones answered them by singing: “Novak, he’s overrated… Novak is an ex.” Novak, throw him out.
“I should also say that disrespect was expressed in many ways towards Serbian fans,” he said in his apology.
“We have built a nice relationship with the Serbian fans… there is banter, and I thought that what I was doing was an extension of that banter. It is quite clear that it was not interpreted that way.
“I feel like I let Serbian fans down. It was an unfortunate situation.”
Channel Nine also apologised, saying “no harm was intended towards Novak or his fans”.
But in a strongly worded statement released before Jones’ apology, the Serbian Council of Australia called for his removal and said it had lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission.
“His comments are offensive, racist and only serve to encourage further discrimination against Australian Serbs,” the statement said.
Australian Prime Minister Albanese called for more “kindness and generosity”.
“I saw Jones’ comments,” he told ABC radio. “We need more kindness, generosity and respect in all segments. That’s what people are looking for.”
Jones was also targeted by American player Danielle Collins last week after he branded her a “brat” when she thanked Australian Open failures for “paying my bills” in defeat to home hope Destanee Aiava.
