Billionaire Bill Ackman wanted the spotlight when he and retired professional Jack Sock lost a doubles match last week at the Hall of Fame Open, an official pro tournament on the ATP Challenger tour.
Now he’s certainly got it, though perhaps not as he intended.
The billionaire has made headlines in recent years for his backing of Donald Trump, attacking Harvard’s former president over dubious plagarism charges (while defending similar accusations against his wife), pledging to bankroll anyone who will run against Zohran Mamdani in the NYC mayor’s race, and for being terminally online.
Ackman’s prsence in the professional tournament was met with swift condemnation from many corners of the tennis and sports media worlds, with critics saying that he bought his way into the tournament, taking a spot from an actual professional who could have benefitted from it. The fact that Ackman and Sock got blown out made the whole ordeal even more pathetic.
Andy Roddick called it “the biggest joke I’ve ever watched in professional tennis.”
“Apparently you can buy yourself a wild card,” wrote Martina Navratilova on social media.
Tennis journalist Jon Wertheim called it “wildly inappropriate and lacking in integrity” given that the match had an impact on ranking points and prize money.
Glenn Greenwald slammed Ackman on X, writing that he “used his vast wealth to worm his way into a professional, ATP-sanctioned tennis tournament at the Hall of Fame at the age of 59… It’d be as if Bill Gates got the Seattle Mariners to let him be a starting pitcher for their AAA team. Pathetic ego-stroking.”
The pièce de résistance of the whole ordeal might just be a fake trailer for an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary called Net Worth about Ackman’s poor outing. Created by Morning Brew’s Good Work, it went viral over the weekend.
“You could say everything was stacked against Bill Ackman,” says a talking head in the faux trailer.
“They lost in straight sets, but Bill Ackman changed the game,” adds another.
We have to admit, we would watch this. Also, they nailed it on the name Net Worth. Golf clap (or is it tennis clap) for that.
As for Ackman, he’s doing what he does best, posting through it and hoping his money will make people forget what a blowhard he is.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.