Tennis star Novak Djokovic refused to participate in a customary post-match interview after advancing to the quarterfinals in the Australian Open on Sunday, blaming the tournament’s official broadcaster after a presenter “decided to mock” Serbian fans.

After defeating Jiri Lehecka in his third-round match on Sunday, Djokovic, 37, snubbed an interviewer with Australia’s Channel 9, the official broadcaster of the tournament, accusing another host on the channel of making “insulting and offensive comments towards me.”

The Serbian star quickly addressed the crowd before handing back a microphone and shuffling off the court. “Thank you very much for being here tonight, I appreciate very much your presence and support, and I’ll see you next round,” he told the crowd, which was met with both cheers and boos from the spectators.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion and ten-time Australian Open champion later posted a video on X explaining why he took off so quickly—apologizing to the public but sticking to his decision to boycott the network.

“So that’s the only reason why I didn’t do the interview,” Djokovic said. “It was, of course, not a great feeling for me and it was quite awkward on the court. Jim Courier was the one that came out—I have tremendous respect for him and I always love speaking to Jim, and I know that a lot of people wanted to hear me speak.”

The Serbian star said he would “stand by my decision,” implying that he would not do any more interviews with Channel 9 until he received apologies from both the broadcaster and Jones himself. At a press conference later, Djokovic said he told Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley that he would pay a fine for not participating in the interviews.

Channel 9 did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.

Djokovic took issue with a short segment aired on Friday, where presenter Tony Jones overlooked a sea of Serbian fans at Melbourne Park waving flags and chanting.

“The chants have been quite extraordinary. Novak, he’s overrated. Novak’s a has-been. Novak, kick him out. Boy, I’m glad they can’t hear me,” Jones joked from the press booth.

Djokovic was infamously deported from Australia on the eve of the 2022 Australian Open after a chaotic court battle for refusing to comply with the country’s vaccine mandate for travelers.

Jones eventually apologized to Djokovic on Channel 9’s morning show on Monday. “I considered it to be banter, I considered it to be humor—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.”

He then claimed that he already issued an apology to Djokovic’s team in private after he got word from Tennis Australia that the Serbian star took issue with the comments. Djokovic’s original statement made it clear he was looking for a public apology from Jones and Channel 9.

In particular Jones singled out his chant of “kick him out” as something he would take back. “It can only be interpreted as a throwback to the COVID years, where he was kicked out. Now that has angered Novak, which I completely understand.”

Djokovic is set to face 21-year-old Spanish phenom Carlos Alcaraz in the tournament’s quarterfinals. Alcaraz is the No. 3 ranked player in the world after winning the French Open last year.

This will be Djokovic’s eighth match against Alcaraz, and the Serbian veteran is currently 4-3 against the up-and-comer.