Tennis Australia\u2019s new boss Andrew Abdo made his first \u2018foot fault\u2019 during the slick Australian Open launch on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The former NRL CEO impressively ad libbed throughout his presentation at Rod Laver Arena, and the one slip up was calling two-time Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner: \u2018Jacob\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to know what I\u2019m really excited for; we are going to be hosting not only the world\u2019s best current players, but I think some amazing emerging rivalries,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s Carlos Alcaraz against Jacob (sic) Sinner, or whether it\u2019s the power of (Elena) Rybakina against the ferocity of (Aryna) Sabalenka, or maybe it\u2019s one of our new up and coming Aussie superstars who\u2019s going to go deep into the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abdo seamlessly ploughed on and it didn\u2019t take the shine off his sparkling debut in the role, but he noted the error.<\/p>\n
In his press conference post presentation he was asked about the mishap.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, of course I know that it\u2019s Jannik Sinner,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, obviously, it\u2019s Jannik Sinner and, you know, on that, we are in pretty exciting talks. <\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, he\u2019s going to be coming back from his injury. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope he comes back really strong and soon, but we\u2019re in talks with him and his team around getting him here nice and early in preparing for the AO. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he\u2019ll be playing in the 1 Point Slam. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I mean that\u2019s what makes the Slam special, the best of the best getting together and playing together.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Co-host Todd Woodbridge said Abdo, who replaced Craig Tiley, had made a terrific start at headquarters.<\/p>\n
Abdo spoke to journalists at length about his vision and plans for the Australian Open and tennis\u2019 future. He\u2019s just spent time at the Laver Cup and US Open and confirmed he is a fan of best of five set tennis.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me just say, I am a massive fan of the best of five, and it\u2019s here to stay,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was fortunate enough to experience the two men\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe grand slams are unique, the Australian Open is unique, and slugging it out in a best of five is pretty unique and special as well. I\u2019m a big fan of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tennis Australia\u2019s new boss Andrew Abdo made his first \u2018foot fault\u2019 during the slick Australian Open launch on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":920462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[488437,488464,488460,488461,488453,325111,488444,461493,376746,488448,488433,337918,40371,432551,64,63,488455,488447,962,488446,54757,418355,488454,456796,21503,488431,400309,488452,396178,488441,488449,488430,384953,488463,39615,488450,754,488442,311604,45755,380628,456797,488435,463448,488458,221809,225104,147813,6562,488445,85,22132,747,106747,488451,456811,225110,381352,488439,411470,488462,488438,488440,407223,488456,376521,378229,376555,488434,488457,488465,359749,382354,54798,9357,6618,488436,488443,488459,488432],"class_list":["post-920461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-foot-fault","tag-s-best-current-players","tag-s-new-boss-andrew-abdo","tag-s-semi-finals","tag-s-slick-australian-open-launch","tag-my-life","tag-a-best","tag-a-big-fan","tag-a-fan","tag-a-massive-fan","tag-a-terrific-start","tag-abdo","tag-andrew-abdo","tag-aryna","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-open-launch","tag-awkward-launch-slip-up","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-coming-aussie-superstars","tag-craig-tiley","tag-elena","tag-five-set","tag-five-set-tennis","tag-future","tag-headquarters-abdo","tag-his-first","tag-his-first-foot-fault","tag-his-injury","tag-his-presentation","tag-his-press-conference-post-presentation","tag-his-sparkling-debut","tag-his-team","tag-his-vision-and-plans","tag-jacob","tag-jacob-sinner","tag-jannik-sinner","tag-jannik-sinner-name-gaffe","tag-journalists","tag-last-year","tag-length","tag-new-tennis-australia-boss-andrew-abdo","tag-new-tennis-australia-chief-andrew-abdo","tag-our-new","tag-pretty-exciting-talks","tag-rod-laver-arena","tag-rybakina","tag-sabalenka","tag-sinner","tag-some-amazing-emerging-rivalries","tag-sports","tag-talks","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-australia","tag-the-1-point-slam","tag-the-ao","tag-the-australian-open","tag-the-best","tag-the-error-in","tag-the-ferocity","tag-the-former-nrl-ceo-impressively-ad","tag-the-grand-slams","tag-the-laver-cup-and-us-open","tag-the-mishap","tag-the-one-slip","tag-the-power","tag-the-rest","tag-the-role","tag-the-shine","tag-the-slam-special","tag-the-slick-australian-open-launch","tag-the-tournament","tag-the-two-men","tag-the-world","tag-thursday","tag-time","tag-together-co-host-todd-woodbridge","tag-two-epic","tag-two-time-australian-open-winner-jannik-sinner","tag-two-time-champion-jannik-sinner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=920461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/920462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}