Tennis Hall of Famer Andre Agassi walks onto the stage as he is introduced during the International Tennis Hall of Fame ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island, U.S., July 20, 2024. REUTERS/Mark Stockwell
(Reuters) -Former tennis world number one Andre Agassi will make his professional debut in the fast-growing sport of pickelball next week when he teams up with top ranked Anna Leigh Waters for the mixed doubles at the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships.
Invented in 1965 by a group of American friends, pickleball is a fast-paced paddle sport similar to tennis and badminton played on smaller courts using a perforated plastic ball, and interest has skyrocketed in recent years.
Waters, 18, is the Professional Pickleball Association's top-ranked player in the world for singles, doubles and mixed doubles and Agassi said he would likely weigh her down.
"She's probably sick of winning so much, and that's why she called me and asked me to play," Agassi, who won eight tennis Grand Slams among his 60 ATP Tour-level titles, told CNBC on Tuesday.
The 54-year-old added that he did not see him joining the growing ranks of pro pickeball players after the tournament, which takes place in Naples, Florida.
"If I had the luxury of bandwidth to focus all my energy on just playing and body recovery and all that stuff, that would be a joy. But I don't. I'm in a different season now," he said.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
