Melbourne
A leading television presenter has apologised on air to Novak Djokovic after mocking the 24-time Grand Slam winner and Serbian fans at the Australian Open, with Elon Musk and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese among those wading into the dispute.
The 37-year-old tennis great refused to do a routine on-court interview after beating Jiri Lehecka to make the quarterfinals on Sunday evening in Melbourne.
Afterwards he said it was in protest at Tony Jones, a top sports presenter with host broadcaster Channel Nine, who he accused of “insulting and offensive comments” towards him and Serbian fans.
Jones had labelled Djokovic a “has-been”, among other things, but said in his apology it was “banter”.
Djokovic said he would boycott interviews with the TV station until he got an apology.
He later released 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 way better just to talk to the public directly than go through the negativity filter of legacy media,” Musk posted in response, with Djokovic replying: “Indeed.”
Tennis names including former world number Boris Becker, Australian Nick Kyrgios, Jannik Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill and Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka all spoke out in support of Djokovic.
“The comments were made on the news on the Friday night, which I considered to be banter. I considered it to be humour, which is consistent with most things I do,” Jones said on Monday.
“Having said that, I was made aware on Saturday morning, from Tennis Australia via the Djokovic camp that the Djokovic camp was not happy at all with those comments.
“As such I immediately contacted the Djokovic camp and issued an apology to them – 48 hours ago – for any disrespect that Novak felt, that I had caused.
“As I stand here now I can only stand by that apology to Novak.”
The veteran broadcaster was live at Melbourne Park on Friday when a large group of Djokovic fans holding Serbian flags began cheering in the background behind him.
Jones responded by singing to them: “Novak, he’s overrated … Novak’s a has-been. Novak, kick him out.
