Tony Jones, presenter who passed controversial remarks about Novak Djokovic at Australian Open, excluded from Wimbledon broadcast lineup

Wimbledon 2025 is set to begin in a week’s time as players, officials, organisers and broadcasters are all gearing up to witness one of the most awaited competitions on the tennis calendar. This year’s competition will not feature one of the most well-known sports presenters, Tony Jones.

Jones has been the primary presenter for the Australian sports channel Channel Nine over the years and has remained a part of the channel’s Wimbledon broadcast. However, that will not be the case this year, as he has been snubbed. According to a report published by the English media outlet Daily Express, Jones's absence will be because of his controversial remarks about former world number one Novak Djokovic during the Australian Open earlier this year. “Novak, he's overrated. Novak's a has-been. Novak, kick him out... Boy, I'm glad they can't hear me,” he said back then.

Djokovic was furious with those remarks and decided to snub the on-court interview. Later, the 38-year-old demanded an apology from Jones. His demand was accepted by Jones, who issued a detailed public apology.

“If I could turn back time, right, and I know we've all got PhDs in hindsight, I think 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’,” he said back then. “Now, I can stand here and put whatever spin on that, but it can only be interpreted as a throwback to the COVID years when he [Djokovic] was kicked out [over his vaccination status]. Now, that has angered Novak, which I completely understand now. So look, 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.”

That was not it, as Channel Nine also issued a public apology. “Nine would like to apologise to Novak Djokovic for any offence caused by comments made during a recent live cross. No harm was intended towards Novak or his fans.”