When Naomi Osaka beat Petra Kvitova at the Australian Open she became the new women’s world number one, however, the behaviour of a sports commentator during a post-match interview is dominating news of her win.
Channel Nine presenter, Tony Jones is being criticised for his confusing questions and comments directed at the 21-year-old.
Referring to her $4.1 million prize money he said “we would love you to pump that back into the economy,” which raised a few eyebrows.
He continued by saying, “It’s a very big trophy by the way, I’m not sure how you carried it all that way.”
But it was a remark about her expression that is perhaps the most uncomfortable.
“There we go, we saw some teeth. Sam Smith, we are not seeing too much of a smile. I think that she is in shock,” he said as Osaka entered the Nine studio, while interjecting with “there’s the smile!” mid-interview.
While Osaka gracefully replied with a nonchalant, “I’m always smiling,” viewers at home took note of his behaviour and denounced his comments on Twitter:
Naomi Osaka joins #9WWOS exclusively to chat after her victory. #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/KcuWjy19J7
— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) January 26, 2019
Top Comments
I have not liked this guy since he made some remarks last year that my beloved West Coast Eagles did not deserve to be in the AFL Grand Final. What!! We finished 2nd and played some ripper games. I'm sure he watched all of one throughout the year. He really let his love for Collingwood cloud his professional judgment. So glad we won.
Anyone who has a love for Collingwood should have their professional and personal judgement questioned. I've never barracked as hard for the Weagles as I did that day!
Tony Jones is clearly an idiot and shouldn't be allowed near any champions, male or female as he clearly does not have the ability to have an intelligent conversation with people of talent. I was so embarrassed for Australia hearing his interview questions.