Novak Djokovic has decided whether to complete his on-court interview duties after his next match.
The 10-time Australian Open champion refused an on-court chat on Sunday evening and later confirmed it was in protest of “insulting and offensive comments” made by Tony Jones, a presenter for host broadcaster Channel Nine.
Djokovic said he would maintain his stance until he received an apology, and Jones and Channel Nine have both since publicly expressed their regret.
The world No. 7 is set to take on Carlos Alcaraz in a blockbuster quarter-final on Tuesday. Tennis Australia has now confirmed that Djokovic will complete future interviews.
“Novak acknowledges the apology has been given in public as requested, and is now moving on and focusing on his next match,” they said in a statement.
It comes after Jones publicly apologised and also claimed he apologised to the Djokovic camp days ago. “I considered it to be humour, which is consistent with most things I do,” he said on Monday.
“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.
A Channel Nine statement read: “Nine would like to apologise to Novak Djokovic for any offence caused from comments made during a recent live cross. No harm was intended towards Novak or his fans. We look forward to further showcasing his Australian Open campaign at Melbourne Park.”
Jones appeared in a live broadcast on Friday, standing in front of a group of Djokovic fans who were cheering and holding Serbian flags. “Novak, he’s overrated! Novak’s a has-been! Novak, kick him out,” he sang.
When Djokovic defeated Jiri Lehecka in his fourth-round match on Sunday, he approached on-court interviewer Jim Courier but did not want to chat. He quickly grabbed the microphone to thank the crowd and walked away.
The 37-year-old quickly came to his press conference to explain why he snubbed his post-match interview and clarified that it had nothing to do with Courier or the Australian fans.
Couple days ago the famous sports journalist who works for official broadcaster, Channel Nine here in Australia, made a mockery of Serbian fans and also made insulting and offensive comments towards me,” Djokovic said.
And since then, he chose not to issue any public apology. Neither did Channel Nine. So since they’re official broadcasters, I chose not to give interviews for Channel Nine.”
The 24-time Major winner was also seen deep in conversation with tournament director Craig Tiley. He said he told Tiley he would be happy to pay any fines for boycotting his interviews until he received the apologies from Jones and Channel Nine.
Djokovic can now look ahead to his mouthwatering contest with Alcaraz without any extra distractions. The Serb leads their head-to-head 4-3 and won their last match – the Olympics final.
