By Stephen Brook and Kishor Napier-Raman
At the “spiritual home of Australian tennis”, the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, newish president Steve Wood (the club’s 19th) is attempting to steady the ship after years of controversy.
Regular readers will recall that the storied tennis club with 52 courts – and a rich history as host of the Australian Open from 1972 to 1987 – has been recently in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
A new regime is hoping to put Kooyong’s troubled past behind it. Credit: Getty Images
There was the disastrous $2.4 million “accounting loss” from its dining and functions operations in late 2023 – a heck of a lot of wagyu, as we remarked at the time.
External auditors blamed poor financial management and reporting, and the club said there was no evidence of criminal activity. Various officials departed and a contested annual general meeting in December resulted in a partial overhaul of the board. Wood’s election as president was relatively straightforward – he was the only one who nominated.
Membership is divided. The AGM generated “anger and discontent” as some members criticised the annual report’s lack of detail.
After a global search for sports administrators, Wood has just appointed Ian Robson as chief executive.
“I’m just looking to improve the club and the member experience and make it the oasis that it really is,” Wood told CBD.
Robson is an experienced sports administrator who was chief executive of the Essendon Football Club when it was engulfed in the 2012 supplements scandal. He stepped down from the club after an internal report, then went on to run Melbourne Victory and Rowing Australia.
Both men face a daunting in-tray. Top of that pile is the outrage generated after the previous Kooyong regime closed the creche without consulting the female members on the eve of the board elections.
But first some good news: the much loved Kooyong Classic will return next year, despite increased competition from the Open itself.
“In 2026 we will be returning the Kooyong Classic. As usual it will find its way to innovate, which has been the hallmark of Kooyong Classic if you look back over the years,” Wood said.
He is certainly busy. In late 2023 was appointed as a non-executive director of the National Pickleball League, which plans to “revolutionise the sport of Pickleball in Australia” and boost participation to 1 million people. Dare to dream, kids.
Kylie on court
Good on you, Kylie Minogue. After a hot streak of speculation – admittedly most of it generated by us – about her potential appearance at the Australian Open, Minogue has weighed in.
Despite being courted by the Open and all the brands, for the record, she didn’t turn up. But that didn’t stop the recording artist, in the midst of rehearsals for her national tour, posting a fond message on her socials to the tournament organisers, accompanied by a moody shot of Kylie accessorising with a racquet on a dusky pink court.
“@australianopen that was everything. I’ll be ready to try out next year,” she wrote in the caption.
But great to know you’re reading us, Kylie. We should be so lucky.
Could Gladys be any more back?
Ever since her dramatic resignation as NSW premier in 2021 – minutes after the Independent Commission Against Corruption revealed she was being investigated – Gladys Berejiklian has given politics a wide berth.
And while a finding of serious corrupt conduct, upheld by the NSW Court of Appeal last year, hasn’t stopped Gladys from enjoying a quiet life as a very well-paid Optus executive, she’s remained distant from the game.
That seems to be slowly changing. The former premier showed her face in a typically anaemic recruitment video – titled We Believe – released by the NSW Liberals last week, featuring an inspiring montage of party figures speaking in front of a white background.
Former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.Credit: AFR
“We believe in a just and humane society,” Berejiklian said, appearing alongside Scott Morrison, Tony Abbott, John Howard, Dominic Perrottet, Peter Dutton and others (Malcolm Turnbull was, perhaps, busy) in a widely mocked effort.
Just a week earlier, Berejiklian popped up at an event for Bradfield candidate Gisele Kapterian in Lindfield, alongside two other former Liberal premiers felled by the ICAC – Nick Greiner and Barry O’Farrell.
Call it the Gladys effect, but Kapterian subsequently won a tight preselection contest over anti-Voice campaigner Nyunggai Warren Mundine. No doubt Peter Dutton would love to see her on the campaign trail.
Both sides now
America’s zoomers breathed a sigh of relief last week when US President Donald Trump granted TikTok a stay of execution, despite a bipartisan effort to ban the app.
Here in Australia, even Peter Dutton, once all-in on a TikTok ban, is on the app, posting pictures of his dog and dirt bike.
And TikTok is doubling down on its local lobbying efforts.
Last week the company registered as a client of Bourke Street Advisory, the shop founded by Amelia Metcalf, a former staffer to retiring Liberal frontbencher Paul Fletcher.
And as CBD reported in 2023, TikTok retained Labor-aligned firm Anacta Strategies to help keep things peachy with the Albanese government. Former Albanese and Dan Andrews staffer Sabina Husic (sister of Industry Minister Ed Husic) is also on the books.
Metcalf, whose connections in the Canberra bubble remain peerless, has been working with TikTok for six months, with her remit now expanded to include lobbying work.
And with the polls showing that a change in government is now within the realms of possibility, it’s never too early for any company to start hedging its bets.
Get the day’s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter here.