Novak Djokovic has been branded an ‘evil Bond villain’ in a stunning outburst from a commentator on Channel Seven after he was booed off the court in disgraceful scenes at the Australian Open on Friday.
The superstar had already made headlines during the tournament when he boycotted an on-court interview with host broadcaster Channel Nine after presenter Tony Jones mocked him in front of chanting Serbian fans – and now he has been given another blast on live TV.
Body language expert Dr Louise Mahler was appearing on Seven’s Morning Show earlier this week when she brought up the 24-time grand slam champion while discussing what Australian Open stars revealed about themselves during the tournament.
After praising Alex de Minaur for working hard and smiling while trying to win his home slam, Mahler went off on a wild tangent about the former world No.1, bringing up his Slavic background as she branded his behaviour ‘evil’.
‘Then you’ve got Djokovic … he reminds me of one of the evil characters in James Bond. He’s tall, he’s Slavic, he has all the awards behind him, he stands – and when he does his interview, he leans his head forwards, he shields his eyes,’ she told hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies.
‘And then he does something on court that he also does in interviews: he keeps his head still and then he moves his eyes, and you just see a lot of white.
Body language expert Dr Louise Mahler (pictured) left Morning Show host Kylie Gillies scrambling to set the record straight as she branded Djokovic’s behaviour ‘evil’
Mahler referenced the superstar’s Slavic background and habit of keeping his head still and moving his eyes to explain why she sees him as ‘one of the evil characters in James Bond’
‘And when you see a lot of white in the eye, that actually says evil. And he… it’s very intimidating.’
A shocked Gillies broke in to say, ‘Not evil, but he’s obviously trying to portray a strength, I think is perhaps a better word.’
Djokovic has won the Australian Open 11 times and has often spoken of his love for the so-called ‘Happy Slam’, but his campaign to notch a record 25th title in Melbourne this year has made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
First Jones chanted, ‘Novak’s overrated. Novak’s a has-been. Novak, kick him out,’ during a live cross to a Nine news bulletin on January 17.
The star and the Nine Network later apologised after Novak refused to do an on-court interview with the broadcaster and branded Jones ‘insulting and offensive’.
Djokovic was then booed by sections of the crowd when a serious hamstring injury forced him to withdraw from his semifinal match against Alexander Zverev on Friday just after losing the first set.
The German defended his opponent in remarks made on court straight after the shocking development.
‘Please, guys — don’t boo a player when he goes out with injury,’ Zverev said.
‘I know everyone paid for tickets and everybody wants to see a great five-set match. But you have to understand for the past 20 years, Novak Djokovic has given tennis absolutely everything.
‘He has won this tournament with an abdominal tear, a hamstring tear. If he cannot continue with this match, it means he really can’t continue.’
American great John McEnroe was equally shocked in commentary for Channel Nine.
‘They can’t possibly be booing him — please,’ McEnroe said.
Djokovic had a very controversial Australian Open, culminating in him being booed by sections of the crowd when he withdrew from his semifinal through injury (pictured)
Channel Nine star Tony Jones apologised to the 24-time grand slam champion (pictured) for what Djokovic called ‘insulting and offensive’ remarks during a live cross at the Open
‘He’s won this 10 times for god’s sakes. Unreal.’
Tennis fans around the world torched the spectators for the awful display, branding them ‘horrible’ and ‘a disgrace’.
Djokovic then hit back at those who doubted the severity of the injury by posting a graphic photo that proves his left hamstring had suffered serious damage.
And before the tournament had even begun, the 37-year-old claimed he had been poisoned while he was detained in Melbourne before being deported over his Covid vaccine status in 2022.
‘I had some health issues. And I realised that in that hotel in Melbourne I was fed with some food that poisoned me,’ Djokovic told GQ magazine.
‘I had some discoveries when I came back to Serbia. I never told this to anybody publicly, but discoveries that I was, I had a really high level of heavy metal. Heavy metal. I had the lead, very high level of lead and mercury.
When asked whether he believed it came from the food, Djokovic replied ‘That’s the only way.’
