Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. (Image: Getty.)
We are officially into the second week of the Australian Open, where the thrills and spills continue down under, as received an apology from Channel 9 presenter Tony Jones.
The Serb boycotted his on-court interview after defeating Jiri Lehecka in the first round, because Jones had sung “Novak, he’s over-rated! Novak’s a has-been! Novak, kick him out!”
Even Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albese weighed in on the matter, saying: “I think is certainly a fine tennis player, there’s no question about that, and I do think that there is a place for more respect.
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“I’ve seen the comments that were made by the broadcaster. We need more kindness and generosity and respect just across the board. I think that’s what people are looking for.”
Jones said on the broadcaster that his chants were “banter” but he had issued an apology to Djokovic. “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 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. If I could turn back time, and I know we’ve all got PhDs in hindsight, the one thing where I overstepped the mark … is the last comment I made.”
For all the latest news, scores and updates from the follow below…
Novak Djokovic formal complaint lodged
The Serbian Council of Australia have filed a formal complaint with the Human Rights Commission over .
A statement issued by the council claims that Djokovic’s recent row with Channel 9 broadcaster Tony Jones required the veteran broadcaster’s resignation.
“His comments are offensive, racist and only serve to incite further discrimination of Australian-Serbs,” the group said in a statement.
“We encourage the Australian Serbian community to write to the CEO of Nine…Please remember to write polite emails. We are a good community.”
Nina Markovic, a member of the council, said on ABC Radio that thee Human Rights Commission should investigate.
“We believe this could have been in breach of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act and Section 20C of the Anti-Discrimination Act,” Dr Markovic said. “This is a real issue and these feelings are real, trauma is real.”
Novak Djokovic in action. (Image: Getty)
Jannik Sinner health scare
was concerningly seen shaking on the side of the court during his match against Holger Rune.
The world No. 1 admitted that he had not been in the best condition coming into the match, but had to take a medical time out in the third set.
He told his team that he could not “move to his left” before returning and taking the third set.
There was then a further delay when .
physically shaking during his match against Rune at He told his team he wasnu2019t able to u2018move to his leftu2019Visibly struggling and hasnu2019t been the same for the last two setsLikely adrenaline combined with not feeling 100%
u2014 The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter)
Good morning
Hello and welcome to the Daily Express’ live coverage of the , where we will be keeping you up to date with all the action in Melbourne.