On his record, Novak Djokovic deserves to be rated as the greatest singles tennis player of the last 50 years. Twenty-four Grand Slam titles. An Olympic gold medal. Ninety-nine tournament wins overall. Goodness knows how many finals appearances. Some say he’s the greatest of all time: the Goat.
Contrast that with Tony Jones. A veteran Australian sports journalist and broadcaster specialising in Australian Rules football, he’s little known outside Melbourne, let alone Australia. As the local sport presenter for Australian Open host broadcaster, the Nine network, Jones is at Melbourne Park fronting a morning magazine-style programme and doing live crosses to Nine’s national news bulletin.
Could it be that the great champion is feeling less secure and infallible?
It was in one of those crosses that Jones was distracted by raucous Djokovic supporters, brandishing Serbian flags and posters of their favourite, and making a lot of noise. He turned to the crowd below, and called out, in a sing-song voice, ‘Novak, he’s overrated.
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