Novak Djokovic has received an apology from Channel 9 broadcaster Tony Jones over his comments at the Australian Open.
After Jones chanted “Novak, he’s over-rated! Novak’s a has-been! Novak, kick him out!” during a live broadcast, Djokovic boycotted his on-court interview.
But Jones has since said that he reached out to Djokovic to apologise
“I considered it to be humour, which is consistent with most things I do,” Jones said.
“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. And as I stand here now, I stand by that apology to Novak.
“I do apologise if he felt that I disrespected him. If I could turn back time, and I know we’ve all got PhDs in hindsight, the one thing where I overstepped the mark … is the last comment I made.
“I can stand here and put whatever spin on that, but it can only be interpreted as a throwback to the Covid years when he was kicked out. Now, that has angered Novak, which I completely understand.”