Rizna Mutmainah

TV

Novak Djokovic responds to Tony Jones' apology

Novak Djokovic responds to Tony Jones' apology

Tony Jones has issued a full apology to Novak Djokovic, following the tennis star's decision to boycott his post-match interview with Channel Nine because of Jones' "offensive comments"

Jones broke his silence on Monday morning during an interview on Nine's Today show, saying that he had already apologised to members of Djokovic's support team behind the scenes - days before the walk-off. 

“If I could just give you a bit of a timeline here — 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, whether it be the Sunday Footy Show or on the morning show or here," he explained. 

“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, so this is 48 hours ago.

“But any disrespect that Novak felt that I caused and as I stand here now I stand by that apology to Novak if he felt any disrespect, which clearly he does.”

He also apologised to the Serbian fans he heckled, saying that "what I thought I was doing was an extension of that banter", clarifying that he felt bad for letting down the Serbian fans. 

Jones' also explained that he "overstepped the mark" when he told the crowd of fans “Novak’s a has-been. Novak, kick him out." 

“I can stand here and put whatever spin I want on that, but it can only be interpreted as a throwback to the Covid years when he was kicked out," Jones said. 

“That has angered Novak, which I completely understand now.

“It’s an unfortunate situation. It’s been one of personal angst for Novak. It’s quite clearly personal angst for me as well. But I think the priority here now is to focus on the tennis again.

“He’s got an amazing match coming up tomorrow night against Carlos Alcaraz and I hope his focus can now be on that and my focus is now the broadcast again. I can only again tell Novak what I did 48 hours ago and that is that I do apologise if he felt I disrespected him.”

Djokovic has since acknowledged the apology and is prepared to move on and focus his attention on his upcoming match against Carlos Alcaraz.

“Novak acknowledges the apology has been given in public as requested, and is now moving on and focusing on his next match,” a Tennis Australia statement read.

Image: Nine/ Instagram

Our Partners