After ‘insulting' Novak Djokovic, veteran Wimbledon presenter axed from TV coverage
In January, Jones stirred controversy during the Australian Open broadcasting with remarks on on Djokovic and his Serbian fans. He said, 'Novak, he's overrated.'
He also remarked, 'Novak's a has-been.'
He also made a statement on the Serbian's 2022 deportation due to visa issues and Covid-19 rules in Australia. 'Novak, kick him out… Boy, I'm glad they can't hear me.'
Jones joined Nine Network in 1986, and has been their frontman in sports coverage for a long time.
In reaction, Djokovic also boycotted his on-court interview after his fourtn round win. Later, Djokovic had said, 'Channel Nine here in Australia made a mockery of Serbian fans and also made insulting and offensive comments towards me.'
Then Jones claimed that he had already apologised to Djokovic. '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.
'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 and apology to them - 48 hours ago - for any disrespect that Novak felt, that I had caused.
'As I stand here now I can only 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 is banter, and I thought what I was doing was an extension of that banter. Quite clearly that has not been interpreted that way. I feel as though I've let down the Serbian fans. It has been an unfortunate situation,' he added.
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