Anthony Albanese accused of ‘manufactured’ score in tennis match for charity against Joseph Daoud at Lodge

Anthony Albanese has been accused of winning a charity tennis match with a “manufactured” score after taking on Sydney-based mortgage broker Joseph Daoud at the Lodge.

Mr Daoud, who has publicly campaigned against Labor’s tax changes and recently joined the Liberal Party, claimed the match was not fairly represented after the Prime Minister won in three straight sets on Tuesday night.

Speaking on Sunrise on Wednesday morning, Mr Daoud disputed the match’s final score and claimed that several incidents on the court had been overlooked.

“Do you find it surprising that the Prime Minister’s biggest political win all year was a manufactured tennis score against the private citizen?,” he said.

“I can’t believe what actually occurred last night. I’ve never seen somebody double fault and give himself a point. I have never seen somebody take a 15 minute tinkle break. I’m not joking. Tinkle, break. When the score is due.”

According to Mr Daoud, the match included a double fault by Mr Albanese that resulted in a point being awarded to the Prime Minister.

Mr Daoud also claimed that he questioned a ball that had hit the net but the umpire declined to comment when he challenged the call.

“He double faulted (and) a point was awarded to him,” Mr Daoud said.

“He hit it straight into the net, and I had to turn to the umpire and say, ‘hey, was that in or out? Because that looked pretty out to me’. And the umpire turned to me and said, ‘I can’t comment on that one there’.”

But Mr Daoud stopped short of explicitly accusing the Prime Minister of cheating, repeatedly stressing the score had been “manufactured”.

“I never said the word cheating. I said there was a manufactured score that was briefed out. That’s. That’s all that I’ve said,” he added.

The mortage broker said he initially intended to be gracious about the event, given that he had received a warm welcome to the Lodge, but became frustrated after learning that a score had been briefed.

“I walked out of there thinking to myself, I’m going to be kind to the Prime Minister’s office. I’m going to be extremely grateful because they did host us,” Mr Daoud said.

“I walked out and I just found out there was a manufactured score that was briefed out. None of my team, none of my team members were allowed to be in attendance.”

“Sorry, I am a little bit fired up this morning after all of this as well.”

Mr Daoud’s criticism of the Prime Minster comes amid his increasingly public political opposition to Labor’s economic policies.

He confirmed to hosts Natalie Barr and Matt Shirvington that he had become a member of the Liberal Party, explaining that he believed the Coalition had been more receptive to concerns from small business owners following the release of the May Federal Budget.

“I did become a member of the Liberal Party. The reason why is because when this Budget first dropped, they were the ones that were supporting small business owners the most,” Mr Daoud said.

He also leads the “Stop the Ambition Tax” campaign which argues that small business owners and young investors have been hit by Labor’s capital gains tax changes.