Former Grand Slam champion Andy Roddick has slammed the decision to allow American billionaire Bill Ackman, 59, to make his professional tennis debut in a Hall of Fame tournament.
Ackman, a hedge fund manager and founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, was widely mocked online after playing in the a doubles tournament in Newport, Rhode Island.
The successful businessman, who is believed to be worth more than £8bn, played with American tennis pro Jack Sock in a doubles matches against Australian pair Bernard Tomic and Omar Jasika.
Ackman is a huge tennis fan and, according to Roddick, a big supporter of the game.
However, the former world number one was disappointed by the decision to allow Ackman to effectively become a professional tennis player and said the match was the ‘biggest joke I’ve ever watched in professional tennis’.
Ackman was clearly out of his depth several basic mistakes in the match and Roddick said it was a ‘total miss’ to let him play in an ATP Tour Challenger as a wildcard.
Tomic and Jasika cruised through the first set 6-1 before easing off in the second, which they still won 7-5, and giving Ackman plenty of hittable balls in scenes Roddick described as ‘pathetic’.
Speaking on the Served podcast, Roddick said: ‘I was clicking between the most accomplished player of all time [Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon quarter-final] and a match where it looked like four players were in the bag.
‘Bill Ackman has been a massive fan and supporter of tennis and he wanted to play in a pro tournament. You don’t give a wildcard when there’s 50 players at my club better than him.
‘I’m on committees for the Hall of Fame and I’m honoured to be part of the Hall of Fame but this was a total miss. The job of the Hall of Fame is to preserve and celebrate excellence in our sport.
‘This was the biggest joke I’ve ever watched in professional tennis. It was a disaster. This was beneath the Hall of Fame.
‘It’s nothing personal against Bill, he can do what he wants. It was his dream to do and someone let him do it so it’s not his fault, I don’t blame him.
‘But someone had to say yes to this and it was rough. It was hard to watch. It was beneath the Hall of Fame, which I love so much.
‘I’ve sent an email asking for an explanation and if I get one and there’s something I’m completely missing, I have no problem admitting I’m wrong.
‘But I don’t know what could possibly be said to make me feel different about this. It was pathetic, it was pathetic. I didn’t like it one bit.’
After being granted a wildcard entry to play in the tournament, Ackman said his teammate Sock would receive any of their potential winnings – around £2,500 if they won their first-round match.
Discussing his love for tennis last year, Ackman said: ‘I have had a lifelong passion for tennis, both as a player and a fan.’
Ackman was believed to be in talks to play doubles with Nik Kyrgios before the Australian former Wimbledon finalist suffered an injury setback.
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