Australian Open day nine: Live results and game-by-game updates as Novak Djokovic responds to Channel 9 presenter's 'hollow' apology, as Jannik Sinner scares fans with worrying moment

Good afternoon and welcome back to an incredibly hot day at Melbourne Park.

I'm going to jump right in because it's been a busy hour here in the press center.

Novack Djokovic responded to Tony Jones' apology this morning in a statement via Tennis Australia.

I'm sure you've seen the big saga unfold over the past few days, but if not, Jones came under fire for his rather explosive comments during a live television broadcast with Channel 9 in Australia.

The broadcaster had “offended and insulted” Djokovic, after he claimed that the 24-time Grand Slam winner was a “has been” in a bizarre television segment.

Last night, Djokovic made it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the 15th time in his distinguished career.

But after the game, he stayed on to conduct a brief post-game interview, before revealing in his press conference that he would not do any more on-court interviews until he received a public apology from Jones.

Jones claimed this morning that he had contacted Djokovic's team in recent days to apologize and had also issued a statement to a Balkan television and news outlet SportKlub, apologizing again for his comments on television.

It all started since then, with some calling his apology this morning “hollow” while others, including Nick Kyrgios, lashed out at the Channel 9 presenter.

Djokovic, however, accepted his apology and now wants to overcome the moment that has affected the tournament in recent days.

Read the full story below…

While Djokovic has received widespread support following his dispute with Channel 9's Tony Jones, there are some who have not risen to support the world number 7.

One of them includes Australian independent senator Jacqui Lambie, who had previously called for Djokovic to be deported from Australia due to his vaccination status.

The dispute between Tony Jones and Novak Djokovic has not only been the talk of the press center here at Melbourne Park, but it seems to be the talk of Twitter!

Elon Musk and Piers Morgan have weighed in on the matter, this is what the British journalist said about it, while you can read the SpaceX founder's comment and Djokovic's response below…

So this morning, Jones appeared on Channel 9's Today Show, where he gave a public speech to Djokovic.

It is understood he had made a previous attempt to contact the world No 7 team and had also issued a statement apologizing to a Balkan television and sports outlet last week.

Djokovic had demanded a “public” apology from Channel 9, which addressed his comments live on television on Monday.

The comments were made on the Friday night news, which I considered a joke,” Jones said on the Today Show.

I considered it to be humour, which is consistent with most of the things I do, whether it's the Sunday Footy Show or the Morning Show here.

That said, I was informed on Saturday morning from Tennis Australia via the Djokovic camp that the Djokovic camp was not at all happy with those comments.

Now, as such, I immediately contacted Djokovic's camp and apologized to them. So this was 48 hours ago.

For any disrespect that Novak felt I had caused, and as I am here now, I stand by that apology to Novak if he felt any disrespect, which clearly he did.

“They come here with the flags and they bring so much color and so much passion, and there was jokes, so I thought what I was doing was an extension of those jokes,” he said.

It's clear that it hasn't been interpreted that way, so I feel like I've let down the Serbian fans.

I'm just saying not to try to get out of trouble or anything, I'm really sorry for those fans.

'Now I can stay here and put whatever spin I want on it, but it can only be interpreted as a throwback to the COVID years when he was expelled (from Australia for not having a visa),' he added.

That has angered Novak, which I now completely understand.

It's an unfortunate situation. It has been one of personal anguish for Novak. It's clearly a personal anguish for me too. But I think the priority now is to refocus on tennis.