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Billionaire Bill Ackman, CEO of New York City-based hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, received considerable backlash after losing in his first professional tennis match.
Tennis legends Andy Roddick and Martina Navratilova, who have held the coveted No. 1 world ranking during their pro careers, were among those who criticized Ackman’s foray into the pro sports ranks.
Ackman played alongside former tennis pro Jack Sock in a men’s doubles match at the Hall of Fame Open in Rhode Island Wednesday. The event was sanctioned by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), two of the sport’s governing bodies.
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Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, plays during a match at the third annual Finance Cup tennis tournament in Miami, Fla., April 1, 2017. (Mark Elias/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Omar Jasika and Bernard Tomic defeated Ackman and Sock in straight sets.
During a recent episode of the “Served” podcast, 2003 U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick took aim at Ackman’s pro debut.
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“This was a total miss. Now, the job of the Hall of Fame is to preserve and celebrate excellence in our sport,” Roddick said. “This was the biggest joke I’ve ever watched in professional tennis.”
Bill Ackman, an investor, watches a match at the 2021 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Sept. 9, 2021, in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Elsa/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Roddick then clarified that he was not taking a personal jab at Ackman.
“It’s nothing personal against Bill Ackman. He can do what he wants if his dream was to do it and someone’s going to let him do it,” Roddick added. “It’s not his fault. I don’t blame him, right? Someone has to say yes to this.”
Elsewhere, the often outspoken Martina Navratilova took to social media to share her thoughts on Ackman’s attempt at pro tennis.
“Apparently you can buy yourself a wild card. Oh to have the confidence…,” Navratilova wrote on X. Navratilova is a nine-time Wimbledon women’s singles champion.
No evidence has surfaced to substantiate Navratilova’s claim that anything of monetary value was involved in Ackman’s participation in the match. Sock extended an invitation to Ackman, CNN reported.
Bill Ackman, CEO and portfolio manager at Pershing Square Capital Management, attends The New York Times’ annual DealBook summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center Dec. 4, 2024, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Ackman described the opportunity to take the court for a professional tennis match as a dream come true.
“I feel like maybe it’s one and done,” Ackman said after the match, according to The New York Times. “But I figured one, in my life, that seemed fair.”
He also shared details about his experience with “stage fright” when he was on the professional tennis stage.
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“I can speak in front of an audience of a thousand people or in a TV studio on a broad range of topics without any preparation and without a twinge of fear, but yesterday I had my first real experience with stage fright,” Ackman wrote on X.
“I found myself on a tennis court in a live streamed professional tournament with a few hundred in the crowd. Throughout the match, my wrist, arm and body literally froze with the expected negative outcomes. I had difficulty breathing, and it was not a fitness issue. It got a bit better as the match progressed, but I was not able to overcome it.”
Fox News Digital attempted to contact Pershing Square Capital Management to allow Ackman the opportunity to reply. A response was not immediately received.
Ackman’s personal net worth stands at $9.5 billion, according to Forbes’ latest estimation.
