- Jones’ mockery of Djokovic led to explosive boycott
- Kyrgios among a list of big names who criticized host Nine
Tony Jones has been criticized for offering a “hollow” apology to Novak Djokovic after he unleashed a storm at the Australian Open by mocking the Serbian champion, with Nick Kyrgios hitting Channel Nine with an expletive-filled attack.
Jones publicly apologized to the 24-time Grand Slam winner on Monday after Djokovic shocked the tennis world by boycotting an on-court interview with Nine’s Jim Courier on Sunday night.
Djokovic advanced to the Open quarterfinals with a straight-sets victory over Czech Jiri Lehecka and said he would decline any interview with the tournament’s host channel, Channel Nine, until he received an apology.
The veteran news anchor was doing a live broadcast from Melbourne Park on Friday night when a large group of Djokovic fans waving Serbian flags began cheering in the background behind him.
Jones pulled the fans in and chanted, ‘Novak, he’s overrated…Novak is no more.’ Novak, kick him out.
While the comments were supposed to be a joke, it was widely criticized on social media.
Channel Nine star Tony Jones has come under fire from some of the biggest names in tennis for mocking Novak Djokovic on live television.

Nick Kyrgios saved the best for last as he took three shots at Jones over the scandal.
Jones offered his public apology Monday morning after first apologizing in comments made to a Serbian media outlet.
“The comments were made on the Friday night news, which I considered a joke,” Jones said on the Today show.
‘I considered it humour, which is consistent with most of the things I do, whether it’s the Sunday Footy Show or the Morning Show here.
“That said, on Saturday morning from Tennis Australia via the Djokovic camp I was informed that the Djokovic camp was not at all happy with those comments.
“Now, as such, I immediately contacted Djokovic’s camp and apologized to them. So this was 48 hours ago.
“For any disrespect that Novak felt I had caused, and as I stand here now, I stand by that apology to Novak if he felt any disrespect, which clearly he did.”
One line in Jones’ statement was criticized by respected tennis journalist Ben Rothenburg, who wrote in not for what he did, and make it clear that you don’t agree with the feelings. “I apologize” should not become “I apologize if.”

Respected tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg took issue with a line in Jones’ apology to Djokovic on Monday morning.

Pictured: The moment Djokovic took the microphone from Nine commentator Jim Courier and thanked fans after refusing to be interviewed by the announcer on court.
Kyrgios, who criticized Jones on Sunday by writing, “Coming from this clown, this guy couldn’t run through a park,” doubled down on Monday after the star’s apology.
“Why is it always the least athletic people who call out the best athletes in the world?” he commented on X, along with a loudly crying face emoji.
Kyrgios then had a third chance against Jones in a video he posted to Facebook on Monday, showing the area where Nine broadcasts from at Melbourne Park and saying in voiceover: ‘How the f**k does this guy still have f***?’ job? It’s something putrid. Tony Jones, you are an absolute failure. Damn Chompers, man.
‘Chompers’ is a nickname given to Jones after he had teeth surgery more than 10 years ago and he is known to hate the nickname.
Kyrgios was among a host of big tennis names to criticize Jones for his behaviour, with Boris Becker, former world number one Victoria Azarenka, Australian star turned top coach Darren Cahill and former American star James Blake all criticizing the host of the Nine.
Elon Musk also backed Djokovic’s boycott as the two exchanged messages on X.