A well-known Australian broadcaster has insisted his recent remarks about Novak Djokovic have been ‘misinterpreted’ and has apologized for any offense caused.
Tony Jones, who is covering the Australian Open for Channel 9 News, landed himself in hot water earlier this week after he made a series of remarks about the 24-time Grand Slam champion whilst presenting a TV segment. In the background, there was a group of Serbian fans chanting and waving their country’s flag which prompted Jones to speak about Djokovic. Shortly afterwards, he received backlash on social media with some accusing him of disrespecting the tennis star.
“Welcome back to Melbourne Park where you can see the Novak Djokovic fans in full voice … the chants are quite extraordinary,” Jones said.
“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.’
It has been claimed that the network asked fans to chant before Jones made his controversial remarks. However, Ubitennis hasn’t been able to verify this. Among those to react was former world No.1 doubles player Paul McNamee who said he was ‘surprised’ by the antics.
Following the backlash, 63-year-old Jones has broken his silence on the matter after being contacted by Serbian website Sport Klub.
“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 is through to the fourth round of the Australian Open where he is bidding to win the title for a record 11th time. On Sunday he will play the Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka.
