by Kelly Campbell
Tennis legend Andre Agassi became a titan of two courts this month when he traded his racquet for a paddle at the U.S. Pickleball Open.
Agassi teamed up with pickleball powerhouse Anna Leigh Waters at one of the biggest pickleball events of the year. As a team, they started strong and went home with an impressive win for Agassi’s pickleball debut, but were ultimately defeated by Trang Huynh-McClain and Len Yang.
Pickleball is often compared to tennis, and even as pickleball continues to blow up in its own right, the two paddle sports remain connected. Agassi isn’t the first tennis-turned-pickleball-pro, and we’ll likely see more paddle sports hoppers as professional pickleball evolves.
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Read on for more about Agassi’s dink debut and the evolution of the relationship between tennis and pickleball.
2025 Minto U.S. Open
The Pickleball U.S. Open is pickleball’s biggest event of the year, where thousands of pickleball amateurs and professionals compete for national recognition. Last year’s event had a record-breaking 3,000+ participants and 50,000+ spectators.
This year’s tournament kicked off in Naples on April 26th and lasted through May 3rd.
Year after year, the U.S. Open has been a true measure of pickleball growth and success. The first event in 2016 was the first nationally televised pickleball event and included only 800 competitors. It remains one of the most well-known and prestigious pickleball tournaments where all of the greats come out to play.
While the U.S. Pickleball Open has a long way to go before it reaches the scale and prestige of the tennis U.S. Open, both are connected as each sport’s dominating competition. Agassi’s appearance (and win) at this year’s U.S. Pickleball Open, nearly 20 years after his final bow in the tennis world, is a full-circle moment that demonstrates a growing link between tennis and pickleball stars.
Tennis Superstar Agassi’s Smash Dink Debut
Fifty-five-year-old Agassi’s impressive tennis career spanned from the mid-80s to the early 2000s. He holds 8 Grand Slam singles titles, is an Olympic Gold medalist, and was ranked No. 1 by the ATP. The last time he played at a U.S. Open was in 2006, his final professional tennis match.
Agassi has jumped on the pickleball bandwagon in recent years. Although the 2025 U.S. Open was his professional pickleball debut, this isn’t his first public pickleball appearance. He was an inaugural champion at the televised Pickleball Slam event and partnered with JOOLA to launch a branded line of pickleball equipment and accessories.
Last month, Agassi emerged in the pickleball spotlight again when he announced his U.S. Open partnership with pickleball pro legend Anna Leigh Waters. Despite their 37-year age difference, Waters asked Agassi to join her on the court after watching him play pickleball on YouTube.
“Andre’s goals are to grow the sport of pickleball, and that’s a huge goal of mine. I thought if we partnered together, this would be a really awesome way to grow the sport,” Waters said.
Despite falling short in Round 3, Agassi’s U.S. Open debut was an impressive run, and his tennis skills flawlessly translated to the pickleball court.
While he’s not planning to become a full-time pickleball pro anytime soon, we’re excited to see how Agassi will continue to dominate in the pickleball world.
Pickleball Provides Opportunities for Tennis Pros
When pickleball first hit the mainstream, many described it as tennis’ newer, cheaper, and “easier” cousin. Both sports have unique challenges and characteristics, but as public interest has skyrocketed in recent years, pickleball is making strides to become the leading U.S. paddle sport. Due to growing popularity, many communities across the country have even begun replacing public tennis courts with pickleball courts. According to the USTA, 10% of tennis courts have been repurposed for pickleball.
Regardless of some paddle sport competition and popularity pressure, pickleball provides great opportunities for tennis lovers. In part due to the physical demands of tennis, professional tennis players typically retire by their 30s. In the pickleball world, on the other hand, age is just a number. Although pickleball is no longer just known as a “retirement home sport,” its previous reputation is a testament to its accessibility, particularly for older folks. In the pro pickleball space, the most well-known and best players vary greatly by age. There are significantly fewer age-related barriers in pickleball than in tennis by design.
As demonstrated by Agassi’s 55-year-old debut, pickleball creates a new athletic life for retired tennis athletes––whether as professional players or recreational players investing in the sport. Tennis players are uniquely advantaged pickleball players. Because of similar mechanics in pickleball and tennis, tennis players are already primed for pickleball success, which is why pickleball gives retired athletes a second chance at greatness, often later in life.
Tennis-to-Pickleball Pipeline
Agassi isn’t the only tennis superstar diving into the pickleball space, and we’ll likely see more and more tennis pros make the switch to pickleball in coming years. Here are just a few tennis pros making strides in the pickleball world:
- Jack Sock
- Sam Querrey
- Genie Bouchard
- Donald Young
- John Isner
- Kaitlyn Christian
Sources
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