Tennis Hall of Fame rejects billionaire Bill Ackman's $10 million gift after widely criticized tournament entry
The 59-year-old Ackman, a longtime tennis fan, competed in the Hall of Fame Open in Rhode Island last week as a doubles team with former top-10 player Jack Sock, losing to Omar Jasika and Bernard Tomic 6-1, 7-5.
The Challenger Tour is the tier below the ATP Tour, but still an actual professional tournament. Ackman received a wild-card entry after a history of philanthropy with the Hall of Fame and played like, well, a 59-year-old tennis enthusiast with no professional experience thrown into a group of professionals. Jasika and Tomic were openly going easy on him, but it didn't prevent him and Sock from losing in straight sets.
The decision to add a billionaire to the tournament it hosts led to a wave of criticism toward the Hall of Fame in the tennis community, most notably from former world No. 1 Andy Roddick, the last American man to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Speaking on his "Quick Served" podcast, Roddick called the match "a total miss," "pathetic," "hard to watch," and "the biggest joke I've watched in professional tennis." He actually said he didn't blame Ackman for his decision to play, placing the onus on the Hall, and praised the billionaire's effort, but said he believed the decisions behind the match would warrant a review.
"There was exactly one person on that court trying as hard as they could," Roddick said. "... If you want to argue with me, go back and watch that video. You can't tell me there was more than one person trying as hard as they could every point, or any point. It was a disaster.
"This was beneath the Hall of Fame, in my opinion."
You can judge the respective effort levels in the video of the match below:
Three days after the match, Ackman posted a lengthy tweet in which he defended the Hall of Fame, criticized his own play and pledged to set up a $10 million endowment he would manage, giving the Hall 10% of the principal each year.
He also called the match an overall success, describing it as "one of the greatest public relations achievements in tennis history" for the Hall, partially due to his failure on the court, and challenged Roddick to a doubles match. He said the criticism the Hall received was "entirely" on him, but also tried to explain why he played so badly.
"What has not been disclosed is that I played a doubles tournament 10 days prior at the HOF, and I played great. The field was comprised of former pros and top college players from around the world, but 55 plus in age. Richey Reneberg and I lost in the semis to the ultimate winners of the tournament in the tie breaker ... Where things went wrong is that I hadn't been beta tested in a professional tournament and my nerves got to me.
"Jack also chose the ad side and I have been playing the ad side for the last year. I was also serving into the 1:30pm sun with a shot clock (a new experience for me), and to make matters worse the other side held back making the whole thing look like a farce."
Everyone has a different definition of success, but it appears the Hall has been less happy than Ackman about how this has played out. While it declined comment to FOS, it reportedly said in a letter to its members and board that it would reject the donation to avoid "any perception of impropriety."
It added, 'In hindsight, we would not make this decision again,' referring to Ackman's entry.
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