Bill Ackman, the 59-year-old American billionaire hedge fund manager who is the founder and chief executive of Pershing Square Capital Management, is a well-known name in the tennis world. He has amassed a fortune by recognizing potential. Speaking of his love for tennis, in 2014, he met a 16-year-old American tennis phenom named Frances Tiafoe. Ackman was the man who supported Tiafoe in launching his tennis career. Reacting to that, Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, once said that there’s “a huge, huge hedge fund guy” backing Tiafoe. Seeing his love for the sport makes us wonder: has Ackman ever tried his hand at it himself?

Well, Bill Ackman is heavily involved in the tennis community on Wall Street. He played the sport in high school at Horace Greeley in the 1980s, although he didn’t play in college. However, he’s often seen participating in charity tournaments and donating significant sums of money to various causes. In 2015, Ackman won the Finance Cup, an amateur tournament featuring bankers and investment professionals. Interestingly, this year we saw Bill Ackman—who has no official tournament experience—being awarded a wildcard entry to the Hall of Fame Open alongside tennis stars like Jack Sock.

Reacting to the opportunity to team up with Sock, Ackman said, “I’ve never met Jack Sock.” The duo was sponsored by Nike. Speaking about the opportunity, he added, “I’m going to try to have a lot of fun, we’ll do everything we can to win and put on a good show. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience—unless we win.” However, he and Sock lost the match to Omar Jasika and Bernard Tomic, 6-1, 7-5. Following his poor display of tennis, the decision to include a billionaire in the tournament sparked a wave of criticism toward the Hall of Fame in the tennis community. Three days later, Ackman posted a lengthy tweet in which he defended the Hall of Fame, criticized his own play, and pledged to establish a staggering $10 million endowment that he would manage, giving the Hall 10% of the principal annually. However, according to the latest news, the International Tennis Hall of Fame has declined Bill Ackman’s $10 million donation.

This comes shortly after the billionaire’s (Bill Ackman’s net worth: $9.4B) controversial wildcard selection and performance at the Hall of Fame Open ATP Challenger professional tennis tournament, which took place nearly a week ago. Renowned tennis journalist Jon Wertheim shared the news on his X handle, stating, “I’m told @TennisHalloFame board has declined the (sizable) donation Bill Ackman offered over the weekend…”

According to reports, in a letter obtained by Front Office Sports, the leadership of the International Tennis Hall of Fame expressed regret over the decision to invite Bill Ackman to compete in the match alongside Jack Sock. “In hindsight, we would not make this decision again,” they said, referring to Ackman’s wildcard entry. So, how did Ackman react to this, and what did the tennis world have to say about his participation in the event?

Andy Roddick and Martina Navratilova react to the Tennis Hall of Fame’s decision

Billionaire Bill Ackman, the CEO of the New York City-based hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, received widespread backlash in the tennis world after the match. For instance, American tennis legend Andy Roddick said, “This was a total miss. Now, 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.” He claimed the match was beneath the Hall of Fame and even called it a “disaster.”

Even Martina Navratilova shared her reaction, saying, “Apparently, you can buy yourself a wild card. Oh, to have the confidence….” Renowned journalist Glenn Greenwald claimed that Bill Ackman 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. However, representatives from the International Tennis Hall of Fame debunked these rumors, stating that no money was exchanged in return for the wildcard.

In response to the heavy criticism from the tennis world, Ackman tweeted, “While I don’t mind and do deserve the ridicule about my poor play at the @TennisHalloFame, the Tennis Hall of Fame itself has received a lot of totally unfair criticism.” He claimed that the sole purpose of accepting the wildcard was to increase interest in the Hall of Fame’s Challenger events. Ackman also pointed out that just ten days prior, he and Richey Reneberg had played quite well, reaching the semifinals of a tournament, and explained a few reasons behind his poor performance in this match.

In the same tweet when he announced the $10 million endowment, he also issued a challenge to Andy Roddick to bring an amateur partner of his choice to play doubles on his court. But what was Ackman’s response to the Hall of Fame rejecting his $10 million donation?

He followed up with another long tweet saying, “In a world where no good deed goes unpunished, I will do my best to attempt another good deed for the sport of tennis, now that the @TennisHalloFame has rejected our donation apparently for ‘optics,’ whatever that means.” He announced that he would now provide the $10 million endowment to the JTCC.

What are your thoughts on these latest developments involving Bill Ackman and the Hall of Fame?