Novak Djokovic Seeks Apology From Australian Open Broadcaster Over 'Offensive' Comments - UBITENNIS

Novak Djokovic Seeks Apology From Australian Open Broadcaster Over ‘Offensive’ Comments

By Adam Addicott
4 Min Read

Novak Djokovic has vowed to boycott his on-court interviews at the Australian Open until he receives an apology from the tournament’s host broadcaster, Channel 9 News.

Djokovic eased into the quarter-finals on Sunday with a straight-sets win over Jiri Lehecka. Shortly afterward, he was due to conduct his usual on-court interview with Jim Courier but only made a brief comment before leaving to sign autographs. He was then seen speaking with tournament director Craig Tiley.

The boycott was made following remarks by broadcaster Tony Jones during a recent TV segment involving the 24-time Grand Slam champion and Serbian fans.

“Welcome back to Melbourne Park where you can see the Novak Djokovic fans in full voice … the chants are quite extraordinary,” Jones said earlier this week.

“Novak is overrated … Novak’s a has-been … Novak kick him out,” he then sang back to the fans before adding, “I am glad that they can’t hear me.”

Jones continued his segment and ended it with a joke by saying ‘I am going to have to get out of here … nah we are fine, we had selfies and I told them I was Clint Stanaway.’

Djokovic, who is seeking his 11th Australian Open title, had not publically spoken about the incident which took place two days ago. However, he broke his silence during a late-night press conference on Sunday.

“I would like to just clarify the reason why the interview was not conducted on the court, the post-match interview, like it’s a common, usual practice.” Said Djokovic.

“A Couple of days ago a famous sports journalist who works for the official broadcaster, Channel 9 here in Australia, made a mockery of Serbian fans and also made insulting and offensive comments towards me.

“Since then, he chose not to issue any public apology. Neither did Channel 9.  So since they’re official broadcasters, I chose not to give interviews for Channel 9.

“I have nothing against Jim Courier or neither the Australian public.

“I leave it to Channel 9 to handle this the way they think they see fit.”

It is not known if Djokovic has been made aware that Jones did issue an apology on Saturday after being contacted by the Serbian sports website Sport Klub. The 63-year-old said he was only joking and insisted his comments had been misinterpreted. He then added that he apologises for any offense caused.

“Unfortunately, my ‘humor’ the other night was misinterpreted as an attack on Novak. That was certainly not the case. I’ve been joking with Serbian fans throughout the tournament and this is – at least I thought so – a continuation of that,” he told Sport Klub.

“If you watch our morning show, you’ll get an idea of ​​how we work. At no point did I mean to show any disrespect to Novak and I apologize – there was certainly no intention to offend him.” 

Djokovic will play Carlos Alcaraz in the next round.

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