It was an ill-fated attempt at a joke which horribly backfired. When Tony Jones, the veteran sports broadcaster, made his rabble-rousing remarks about Novak Djokovic in front of a sea of Serbian fans at the Australian Open, little did he know he was about to find himself at the centre of a storm.

By the time Djokovic took the dramatic step of boycotting his on-court media duties the whole saga had already turned into an embarrassing episode for Channel Nine, the tournament’s host broadcaster. A lengthy apology from Jones swiftly followed, in which he detailed how he had contacted Djokovic’s camp and insisted his comments were consistent with his trademark “banter and humour”.

This is hardly the first time Jones, a marmite character who joined the Nine Network during the 1980s, has courted controversy. He has spent a considerable length of his near four-decade long career apologising for his television blunders and venting his fury at anyone who calls him by the nickname ‘Chompers’ - in honour of his artificially whitened teeth. Jones is thought to particularly dislike the moniker.

His debacle with Djokovic is the latest of a long list of unfortunate quips that have defined his chequered career.

The 63-year-old asked Nine News weather presenter Rebecca Judd if she would “like to come over for a barbie” on live television in 2013, to which she simply replied, “No thanks.” Having seemingly not got the message, Jones tried it on with Judd three years later in one of her final shifts in the newsroom before going on maternity leave.

Footage of the horrifyingly cringey episode shows Jones standing with his arm around the presenter, before forcefully leaning in to plant a kiss on her cheek. In a clip that has chalked up more than a million views on YouTube, Judd, clearly taken aback by Jones’ advance, promptly turns away. Having been rejected on camera, a red-faced Jones crossed his arms, said, “OK, good, this is going well.” Judd is said to harbour no hard feelings towards her colleague.

Credit: Channel 9

Jones accused of ‘patronising’ interview with Osaka

Jones raised further eyebrows at the 2019 Australian Open final for a cringeworthy exchange with Naomi Osaka after she defeated Petra Kvitova in the final. Fans were quick to lambast Jones after he remarked Osaka had done well to carry the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup to the studio, only for Jones to say that he was “not sure how you carried it all this way”.

As Osaka awkwardly searched for a response, he said, “There’s the smile”. “I’m always smiling,” the Japanese star calmly responded.

Jones then proceeded to ask Osaka how she intended to spend her $4.1 million prize cheque, bizarrely declaring “we would love you to pump that back into the economy”.

Fans were quick to criticise Jones for his “patronising” and “embarrassing” treatment of the tennis star, but the interview took a whole other twist when he began questioning her about Osaka’s heritage, which some claimed was laced with racist overtones.

“Your grandparents back at Japan and you left Japan at three (years old] and you still regard yourself as a Japanese player,” said Jones. “It took a time for your grandparents that you and your sisters wanted to play tennis and they finally came on board.” Jones slammed critics over the backlash as “cowards”.

In 2020, Jones again landed himself in hot water after an uncomfortable live TV moment with AFL legend, Steve Johnson. Jones was forced to apologise after referring to the footy star as ‘Stewey Dew’, explaining that he was “drugged to the eyeballs” because he was suffering from a tooth infection.

Given his propensity for blundering his way through interviews, it was not surprising to see Jones weigh in on Danielle Collins’ behaviour at the Australian Open last week. Collins took on the role of pantomime villain after defeating Destanee Aiava to reach the third round, slapping her backside and blowing kisses to an angry partisan crowd. Jones divided opinion with her on-court antics, but Jones branded her a “brat”.

Collins screenshotted Jones’ remarks and plastered them on her Instagram story, making light of them with a reference to the ‘Brat Summer’ viral trend inspired by singer Charli XCX’s hit album ‘Brat’. “I love when these old dudes like Tony know the vibe #bratsummer #brataussiesummer #charliexcx.’”

Collins elaborated on Jones afterwards in her press conference, saying: “I love this old guy, Tony Jones ... I just love how he called me a brat. It’s just so Gen Z and Millennial right now with Charli XCX,” she said, before referencing the high-energy viral ‘Brat’ dance that has been popularised by the hit.

“I really want him to do the dance. He has to do it. I really want to get a one-on-one with him, and we got to do the dance.”

In keeping with his mischievous character, Jones accepted Collins’ challenge on one condition - the American 10th seed agrees to dance with him. “The challenge is out there, how can I say no?” he said on Nine’s The Morning Serve. You fear it won’t be the last we hear of Tony Jones at this year’s Australian Open.