New Tennis Australia CEO Andrew Abdo has responded after his mangling of the names of two of the sport’s biggest stars went viral.
The ex-NRL boss, who resigned earlier this year in favour of the TA job, was at a function launching the Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena on Thursday when the error occurred while spruiking some of the game’s leading stars.
“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 told those in attendance.
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“Whether it’s Carlos Alcaraz against Jacob Sinner, or whether it’s the power of Robakina against the ferocity of Sabalenka.”
Abdo was, of course, referring to current men’s and women’s World No.1s JANNIK Sinner and Elena RYBAKINA, both of whom will be among the biggest drawcards at Melbourne Park in January’s showpiece event.
Audio and vision of the incident has swiftly gone viral, with Portuguese tennis broadcaster Jose Morgado’s post on X attracting hundreds of thousands of views.
Among those amused was former tennis legend Boris Becker, who wrote “What … that just didn’t happen …” on X.
Abdo would later clarify the gaffe was an unintentional pronunciation error and not a gap in his tennis knowledge.
“Of course I know that it’s Jannik Sinner,” he said.
The 49-year old replaces outgoing head – and fellow South African – Craig Tiley, who resigned earlier this year to become the United States Tennis Association’s new CEO, from where he ran the 2026 US Open.
Abdo is also taking on the second role of Australian Open tournament director, a post Tiley also held.
However, he is regarded as a non-tennis person by insiders, a stark contrast from Tiley, who had played at an amateur level in his younger days and has decades of experience in the sport’s administration.
It isn’t his first slip-up, either, with TA forced to retract a comment from Abdo last month in which he suggested five-set tennis may be on its way out of the Australian Open in the early rounds of the tournament.
However, Abdo has defended his status, and said his position from outside the sport offers an opportunity for new ideas.
“I think I bring a fresh perspective, energy and new ideas,” he said.
“I’m not an outsider to leading in sport, and I’m not an outsider to understanding how to surround myself with incredibly talented, hardworking people to get the best outcome.
“One thing that you’ll get with from me is relentless pursuit of growth, and relentless pursuit of value for our stakeholders.”
The function also revealed the addition of 700 new seats in a massive temporary grandstand at Melbourne Park.
There are also plans to cap day passes to the event after monstrous crowds led to criticism and fan frustration during the 2026 tournament, including complaints about massive queues to watch even minor games.