Novak Djokovic-led PTPA's $9.2B-worth associate shockingly changes tune on NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani despite previous vile accusations

Bill Ackman, the high-profile associate of the Novak Djokovic-led Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), recently offered his support to Zohran Mamdani, the newly-elected Mayor of New York City. Ackman's stance is a far cry from what it was in the past, with the $9.2 billion worth (as per Forbes) hedge fund manager having previously made startling accusations against Mamdani.

In July this year, Ackman, who has invested heavily in the PTPA through his hedge fund Pershing Square, reacted to a controversial X (formerly Twitter) post. The post contained an excerpt from the 2004 book 'Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror' written by Zohran Mamdani's father Mahmood.

In the post, a part of the excerpt was highlighted, which read:

"We need to recognize the suicide bomber, first and foremost, as a category of soldier. Suicide bombing needs to be understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism."

Reacting to the post with a brief write-up, Ackman controversially implied that Mamdani shares the same beliefs as his father. Tagging Mamdani, Ackman wrote on X:

"The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree."

However, in the aftermath of Zohran Mamdani's election as the new Mayor of New York City, the Novak Djokovic-led PTPA's associate shockingly changed his tune on the 34-year-old.

"@ZohranKMamdani, congrats on the win. Now you have a big responsibility. If I can help NYC, just let me know what I can do," Ackman wrote.

"It's sad that one of the greatest athletes of all time has to..." - When Bill Ackman came to Novak Djokovic's defense

Bill Ackman at the 2016 DealBook Conference (Source: Getty)

At the 2025 Australian Open, Novak Djokovic retired mid-match during his semifinal showdown against Alexander Zverev citing an injury. The Serb's mid-match retirement however, didn't go down well with the Melbourne crowd, who loudly booed the former No. 1 and 10-time Australian Open champion as he was making his way off of the court.

Subsequent criticism came Djokovic's way on social media, following which the 24-time Major champion took to X and shared an MRI scan of his injured hamstring. Bill Ackman later reacted to the Serb's post, expressing sadness over the way the former No. 1 had been treated.

"It is sad that one of the greatest athletes of all time has to share his scan to defend his character. We owe him more than this," Ackman wrote.

On the tennis front, the Serb is currently participating at the Hellenic Championship in Athens, Greece, where he has set up a quarterfinal clash against Nuno Borges from Portugal.

Edited by Sudipto Pati