Andrew Abdo would have known what he did as soon as the word “Jacob” left his lips – everyone else at the Rod Laver Arena function did – but he ploughed on without hesitation.
Speaking on Thursday at his first Australian Open launch since replacing Craig Tiley in August as both Tennis Australia chief executive and tournament director, Abdo was opining about the virtues of tennis rivalries when his misstep occurred.
“If you want to know what I’m really excited for; we are going to be hosting not only the world’s best current players, but I think some amazing emerging rivalries,” Abdo said.
“Whether it’s Carlos Alcaraz against Jacob [sic] Sinner, or whether it’s the power of [Elena] Rybakina against the ferocity of [Aryna] Sabalenka, or maybe it’s one of our new up-and-coming Aussie superstars who’s going to go deep into the tournament.”
Abdo later told media that “of course” he knew it was Jannik Sinner. And, of course, we know he does.
But it was an unfortunate mistake for the former NRL CEO, who was already viewed as a non-tennis person with nothing like the background in the sport that Tiley had.
Abdo’s fellow South African Tiley would never have made that slip-up.
Amusingly, Todd Woodbridge jumped on stage with Jelena Dokic straight after Abdo, and performatively told everyone in attendance how impressive Abdo had spoken without an autocue.
Abdo’s faux pas comes about a month after he triggered global headlines during the US Open at the SportNXT conference in Melbourne for suggesting the best-of-five-sets format might not be used for the tournament’s entire duration in the future.
Those comments led to TA responding on the Australian Open’s social media channels: “While innovation is part of the AO’s DNA, five-set tennis is here to stay. We’ll reveal more on what’s coming to AO 2027 soon.”
Asked by this masthead on Thursday about his view on best-of-five tennis, Abdo chuckled then professed his love for the format.
“Let me just say, I am a massive fan of the best of five, and it’s here to stay,” he said, echoing TA’s statement last month.
“I mean, honestly, one of my favourite days in sport ever … I was fortunate enough to experience the two men’s semi-finals last year, and those were two epic best-of-five-set matches that I will never forget for the rest of my life.
“The grand slams are unique, the Australian Open is unique, and slugging it out in a best-of-five [sets match] is pretty unique and special as well. I’m a big fan of it.”
The whole experience was a reminder that Abdo’s new role is far more international than the one he left, which he noted, and his mistakes are amplified to a larger audience.
Fairly or not, his “Jacob” Sinner line is what many will remember about the AO27 launch, which was otherwise a typically slick operation.
Abdo has deliberately kept a relatively low profile in his first months in the job ahead of a big summer, keen to get the lay of the land before he goes on an inevitable media tour talking about himself and his plans for Australian tennis.
The hot topic is the state of the country’s playing stocks, with only four men – headlined by seven-time major quarter-finalist and top-10 star Alex de Minaur – and five women inside the top 100 in the singles rankings.
“I think we can always get better. I don’t think it’s as bad as people think, and I don’t think that it’s necessarily perfect,” he said.
“What you’re going to hear from me is that I want more. I want more people playing, and I want more focus on innovative ways in which we can nurture the talent pipeline, and get performance really pumping in our sport.
“There are structural challenges [including Australia being so far away from most tour events], but I think that they can be overcome … there’s no silver bullet, but there are definitely things that we can improve.”
Abdo had stopped short of confirming he would serve as tournament director until now, but will take on both jobs, which Tiley hoped would happen.
The “Jacob” gaffe will undoubtedly get back to Sinner, who won’t care a fig.
More important is how Abdo navigates relationships with the players throughout the year and in the Australian Open fortnight. He has a hard act to follow in Tiley, who developed close bonds with the best players, in particular.
That much was obvious during Alexander Zverev’s US Open winner’s speech, when he singled Tiley out for praise.
“He decided to move to New York, which we, as players, were not very happy about because he made the Australian Open the best tournament in the world,” Zverev said.
“From now on, I think the US Open will probably be the best tournament in the world, since you are here … [could you] move back to Australia for maybe three months, then come back at the end of January? That would be great.”
Abdo will settle in, but it has been a bumpy start.
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