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The war between Tony Jones and Novak Djokovic appears to be over.
Djokovic demanded a public apology from Jones over “offensive comments” he made about the former world No. 1 during a live broadcast.
The Serbian’s boycott threatened to derail the Australian Open, but Jones publicly apologized on Monday to the 24-time Grand Slam champion who acknowledged the remarks and is set on putting it behind him.
Jones’ apology included a sensational claim that he had already secretly apologized to members of Djokovic’s support team behind the scenes in secret — more than 24 hours before Djokovic’s walk-off.
Jones taunted Serbian fans and sang during a broadcast: “Novak, he’s overrated. … Novak’s a has-been. Novak, kick him out. Boy, I’m glad they can’t hear me.”
But despite saying he stood by his apology for causing any disrespect to both Djokovic and Serbian fans, Jones’ words fell on deaf ears for tennis fans.
Many were quick to blast the media veteran for delivering a “hollow” statement that missed the mark.
Renowned tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg wrote on X: “Tony Jones has ‘apologized,’ but it’s one of those hollow apologies where he apologizes for how it made someone feel, not what he did, and he makes clear that he disagrees with the feelings. ‘I do apologize’ shouldn’t become ‘I do apologize if.’”
Tennis blogger Pavvy G wrote: “Here is Tony Jones apology, instead of all the excuses and trying to deflect the attention away from HIS mistake, he should have just said a couple of sentences, I’m really sorry to Djokovic and his fans and wish him the best.
“This is what you call a word salad! What I don’t understand is he said he apologized to the Djokovic camp 48 hours ago, so why didn’t he do so publicly? He was interviewed by @ozmo_sasa on Saturday and refused to apologize saying it was just ‘banter.’ So his story doesn’t add up.”
Another irate fan wrote: “Tony Jones’ apology to Novak Djokovic is the most male apology of all time. ‘Sorry if what I said hurt YOUR feelings.’”
As the anger piled in on social media in Jones’ direction, fellow Channel 9 employees were coming to his defense declaring his comments were simply a case of a sense of humor lost in translation.
Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo — hosts of “Today” in Australia — made light of the situation, while guest panelist Senator Jacke Lambie jokingly urged Jones to double down on his comments.
The consensus from Nine’s media stable seemed to be that Djokovic didn’t understand Jones’ tongue-in-cheek style.
Despite their best efforts, Jones was on the hot seat with not only fans, but fellow players calling out the veteran broadcaster.
Two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka led the support of Djokovic.
“The audacity to call Novak Djokovic overrated by a reporter is just insane,” she tweeted. “The guy literally completed tennis by winning everything you can in our sport!”
Piers Morgan was also on the Serb’s side. “Djokovic is right. That Channel 9 guy was an absolute tool.”
Elon Musk even entered the debate when responding to Djokovic’s video post on X.
“It’s way better just to talk to the public directly than go through the negativity filter of legacy media,” Musk replied to the video.
“Indeed,” Djokovic wrote back.
The scandal has however drawn to a conclusion with Djokovic accepting Jones’ apology and now turning his full attention to his Tuesday night clash against Carlos Alcaraz.
