DPA
Melbourne
Australian sport presenter Tony Jones on Monday publicly apologized to tennis great Novak Djokovic for making disparaging comments about him and his fans, after the Serbian star boycotted an on-court interview a day earlier in protest.
Djokovic skipped the customary post-match interview on Sunday following his win over Jiri Lehecka to advance to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
He later explained that he was boycotting host broadcaster Channel Nine over "insulting and offensive comments” towards him and mocking of Serbian fans by its sport presenter Tony Jones a day earlier.
The episode in question saw Jones mocking a group of Djokovic supporters by singing, "Novak is overrated, Novak’s a has-been, Novak, kick him out.”
Djokovic on Sunday complained that Jones "chose not to issue any public apology. Neither did Channel Nine.” He went on to say that he would "leave it to Channel Nine to handle this the way they think they see fit.”
On Monday, Jones publicly apologized to Djokovic and his fans, saying that his comments were meant as banter.
"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 Channel Nine’s Today programme.
Jones went on to say that he had apologized to the Djokovic camp on Saturday morning "for any disrespect that Novak felt that I had caused. And, as I stand here now, I stand by that apology to Novak.”
"I should also say the disrespect was extended, in many ways, to the Serbian fans ... We have built up a nice rapport with the Serbian fans ... there was banter. So I thought what I was doing was an extension of that banter. Quite clearly that has not been interpreted that way.”
Djokovic faces Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday, as his quest for a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title continues.