Novak Djokovic is currently participating in the Australian Open. It hasn't been a smoothe tournament run. He has faced various challenges. He has reasoned out for his reactioned behaviour. An example would be his refusal to do a an interview.
Novak Djokovic has revealed that his refusal to do an on-court interview at the Australian Open was related to controversial comments made on Australia’s Channel 9. 7th seed Djokovic breezed through to the last eight of the Australian Open on Sunday, fending off Jiri Lehecka in straight sets to book a meeting against 3rd seed, Carlos Alcaraz.
In the aftermath of the match, the Serbian refused to do an on-court interview with Jim Courier, with many believing this was in some way, related to crowd behaviour during the match. However, Djokovic has now revealed that his refusal relates to comments made by Channel 9 broadcaster, Tony Jones earlier this week.
Jones controversially described the 37-year-old as, "overrated" and a, "has-been" when on air, also joking, "kick him out" about the 24-time Grand Slam champion. Channel 9 is the host broadcaster and organises the post-match on-court interviews at the Australian Open.
Taking to X, Djokovic confirmed that he had no issue with Courier or fans during the match and was waiting for an apology from both Jones and the broadcaster. "Hey guys, thank you all for your support," said Djokovic. "It was a great match again against Lehecka, who’s in form. Looking forward to the next match-up with Carlos, and I just want to take a moment to reflect on what happened on the court."
“The reason why I did not do an interview that is a common practice, after the match for the winner to do a post-match interview – I just wanted to clarify with everyone what happened."
"The reason why I chose not to do that is that a few days ago, a famous sports journalist from here in Australia, who works for a main broadcaster of the Australian Open – Channel 9 – decided to mock Serbian fans, and he made insulting and offensive comments towards me."
"So I was hoping he was going to apologise in public, which he hasn’t done yet, and neither did Channel 9, so that’s the only reason why I didn’t do the interview. "It was, of course, not a great feeling for me and it was quite awkward on the court. Jim Courier is the one who came out, I have tremendous respect for him and I always love speaking to Jim."
"I know that a lot of people wanted to hear me speak so I apologise for everyone in the stadium not being able to hear me speak, and on the TV as well. “That’s the main reason and I have to stand by my decision and hold these stands until something is done. I leave it to Channel 9 and hopefully that situation will change for the next match."
Jones made a reported apology to Serbian website, Sport Klub.
"Unfortunately, my 'humour' 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 said.
"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 apologise – there was certainly no intention to offend him." Jones apologised on-air during Nine’s The Today Show on Monday morning — claiming that he had apologised to the Djokovic camp 48 hours earlier, before the star’s boycott.
"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."
Jones revealed that the, "kick him out" comment had most angered Djokovic, who was deported from Australia in 2022 for breaching border entry rules. Djokovic was ruled to not have a valid medical exemption when he refused to be vaccinated during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The one thing where I overstepped the mark - and this is certainly what’s really sort of angered Novak Djokovic and his camp - is the last comment I made in that back-and-forth with the crowd: 'kick him out'," Jones said.
"I can stand here and put whatever spin I want on that, but it can only be interpreted as a throwback to the Covid years when he was kicked out. That has angered Novak, which I completely understand."
"It has been an unfortunate situation. It’s been one of personal angst for Novak, it’s quite clearly personal angst for me as well, but I just think the priority here now is to focus on the tennis again. He’s got an amazing match coming up tomorrow night against Carlos Alcaraz and I hope that his focus can now be on that and my focus is now the broadcast again."
"I can only, again, tell Novak what I told him 48 hours ago — and that is that I do apologise if he felt I disrespected him."
Jones said that he and the Djokovic camp had agreed to meet in person to further discuss the matter, though that was yet to happen.
Jones was reading the sports news for Nine’s evening news bulletin live from Melbourne Park on Friday night when a large group of Djokovic fans holding Serbian flags began cheering in the background behind him.
"Welcome back to Melbourne Park, where you can see the Novak Djokovic fans, they’re in full voice," Jones said. "The chants are quite extraordinary. Novak, he’s overrated. Novak’s a has-been. Novak, kick him out. Boy, I’m glad they can’t hear me. Anyway, let’s get onto the tennis."
As he finished his bulletin, Jones said: "Alright that wraps it up from Melbourne Park. Somehow I’m going to have to get out of here. No we’re fine, we had selfies. I told them I was Clint Stanaway."
Nine newsreader, Tom Steinfort, responded: "I didn’t think anyone would be more unpopular than Danielle Collins after last night’s antics, but Tony you’ve taken the cake." In a comment provided to news.com.au after the incident, Jones said: "It was good natured banter with the Serbian fans. We’ve been doing it all tournament and it’s all in good fun. This is the happy Slam."
Djokovic spoke with Australian Open boss, Craig Tiley, about the boycott in the tunnels under the stadium after his win.
"It’s exactly what I told you. That’s what I told him. I haven’t seen him since that happened," Djokovic said. "He was communicating with my agent and my team. I just wanted to make sure, as I have really nice relationship with Craig, I think he’s a phenomenal guy that always tries to help players and understand the players' needs or demands, so I just wanted to make sure that he knows where I stand and the reasons behind it."
"So I told him, you know, If you guys want to fine me for not giving an on-court interview, that’s okay, I’ll accept that ‘cause I feel like this is something that needs to be done. That’s all there is to it." The 24-time slam champion denied fan behaviour was a reason for him not doing the interview, though he did not deny the crowd was rowdy.
"No, look, nothing that really stands out or extraordinary. Every match something different happens,”"Djokovic said.
"I already explained myself the reason why I wasn’t giving an interview, is not for the crowd, it was for the Channel 9 situation."
Tennis names including former world number one, Boris Becker; Australian, Nick Kyrgio; Jannik Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill and Grand Slam champion, Victoria Azarenka all spoke out in support of 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 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 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."
"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."
Channel Nine also apologised, saying, "no harm was intended towards Novak or his fans." However, in a strongly worded statement issued before Jones’s apology, the Serbian Council of Australia called for him to be sacked and said it had lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission.
"His comments are offensive, racist and only serve to incite further discrimination of Australian-Serbs," it said. Australian Prime Minister Albanese urged more, "kindness and generosity." "I’ve seen the comments made by (Jones)," he told ABC radio.
"We need more kindness and generosity and respect across the board. That’s what people are looking for."
Jones was also a target for American player, Danielle Collins, last week after he labelled her a, "brat" when she thanked Australian Open hecklers for, "paying my bills" in her defeat of home hope Destanee Aiava.
As of this writing, Djokovic has defeated Carlos Alcaraz in 4 sets (4-6; 6-4; 6-3; 6-4). The latter hasn't taken the defeat with grace. Djokovic was battling an injury. He has accused the umpire of being 'influenced' by Djokovic.
Carlos Alcaraz was booed by the Melbourne crowd following his argument with the chair umpire. Four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz lost his cool during the second set of the blockbuster men's singles quarter-final match against Novak Djokovic at the 2025 Australian Open as he argued with the umpire over a let call.
It happened when Djokovic was serving at 3-1 in the second set, hoping to pile up his lead over the Spaniard, who had won the opening set 6-4. The umpire immediately made a let call but Alcaraz was left furious at the match official over the time being taken during his serves following a let. While he admitted it was a let call, he felt that the call was taken after Djokovic stopped.
"It was five seconds late. It's crazy," said Alcaraz after the chair umpire admitted her mistake. "I know it's let but you stopped when he stopped," yelled the 21-year-old thrice as the crowd at the Rod Laver Arena began to boo the Spaniard.
The commentator agreed with Alcaraz, saying, "He is not happy because he thinks the umpire has been influenced by Djokovic stopping at that point." "I don't think Djokovic is too thrilled with Alcaraz asking that question," said another commentator.
Alet call refers to If you serve a ball that hits the top of the net before bouncing into the correct service box.
Alcaraz, who was broken early in the second set, broke back in the fifth game of the second set to restore parity.
Earlier in the opening set, in the windy Melbourne conditions, breaks were exchanged early across the first three games. Djokovic made the most of the slow start from Alcaraz as he moved to a 2-0 lead, before the latter stormed back to fire a backhand winner at the end of a 26-shot tally to break back.
The 24-time Slam winner left the court to receive a medial timeout at 4-5. Shortly after, Alcaraz, who was still looking fresh, hit a stunning drop shot to break for the second time as he bagged the opening set 6-4 after 54 minutes of tense action.
Following the loss, a video of Alcaraz went viral on social media where he was seen limping after the end of the third set. He grabbed his leg and limped over to his bench before looking towards his player box. The 21-year-old then sat down and again got up and started limping again.
With Alcaraz showing no sign of physical discomfort before the end of the third set or the start of the fourth set, commentators reckoned he was taking a shot at Djokovic, who had taken a medical time-out at 4-5 down in the opening set, after which he roared back to claim the second and third set.
Novak Djokovic has described his incredible four-set triumph over Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals of the 2025 Australian Open as, "one of the most epic matches" he has ever played. After suffering a leg injury, Djokovic had strapping applied on his upper right thigh during a medical timeout he took at 5-4 down in the first set.
In his on-court interview, Djokovic was asked by two-time Australian Open winner, Jim Courier, asked how he had managed to prevail. "Well, with my two legs and two arms I guess. Well, one and a half leg (laughs)," the world No 7 said.
"First I want to say my utmost respect and admiration for Carlos and everything he stands for and what he has achieved so far in his young career. What a terrific guy he is and even better competitor."
On the injury, Djokovic said: "Well, since I’m still in the tournament I don’t want to reveal too much obviously. “Yeah, the medication started to kick in and they helped, no doubt. I had to take another dose, I mean this sounds awful (laughs), me taking another dose, but I had to."
"I didn’t know, to be honest, if I lost that second set, I don’t know if I would continue playing, but I felt better and better. Managed to play a great couple of games to end up the second set."
"And then I saw that Carlos was hesitant a little bit from back of the court and I took my chances, started to feel better, started to move better. It didn’t create any hinderance towards the end of the match, only in that second set."
"Obviously when the medications start to release, I’ll see what the reality is tomorrow morning. But yeah, right now I will just try to be in the moment and enjoy this victory."
Djokovic will face world No 2 Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals on Friday.
I am fully with Djokovic. If I were to hear or see someone do a similar thing, I would be outraged. I would refuse to be associated with that particular organisation/people. I suppose an apology would help me to move on. As for Alcaraz, I believe he's just being a sore loser. The call might have been right but there's no room for mockery of a potential real injury.