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Andre Agassi will make his professional pickleball debut with 18-year-old world No. 1 player, Anna Leigh Waters.
Courtesy of Andre Agassi and Anna Leigh Waters.
Tennis legend Andre Agassi is joining the pro pickleball ranks.
The former No. 1 ranked tennis player told CNBC that he will play his first professional tournament at the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships with the top-ranked player in the world, Anna Leigh Waters.
The tournament kicks off on Saturday in Naples, Florida, and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network. Agassi and Waters will play their debut match on April 30 at noon ET.
The idea to play together came from 18-year-old Waters, who was looking for a mixed partner for the biggest pickleball tournament of the year. The U.S. Open Pickleball Championships was founded in 2016 and draws crowds as large as 50,000 fans each year.
Waters, who earned more than $3 million playing pickleball in 2024, according to Forbes, has emerged as one of the sport’s biggest and most marketable stars.
“She’s probably sick of winning so much, and that’s why she called me and asked me to play,” Agassi joked.
Waters said she scouted Agassi ahead of time, watching videos of him playing pickleball on YouTube.
“We both tend to err on the aggressive side, and I think that works,” she said. “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.”
Pickleball has taken off since the Covid-19 pandemic and today is the fastest-growing sport in the U.S., growing 311% over the past three years, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. Pickleball players now make more money than Women’s National Basketball Association and National Women’s Soccer League players as the sport has attracted major sponsors, media deals and ad dollars.
After many years of dominating on the tennis court, Agassi said he caught the pickleball bug and fell in love with the social, inclusive nature of the sport.
He has traveled the world to help promote the sport through his partnership with Joola, a maker of pickleball gear. Agassi also serves as the inaugural chair of Life Time’s pickleball and tennis board.
As for his long-term pickleball plans, Agassi said not to expect him to join Major League Pickleball or the PPA Tour anytime soon.
“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,” he said. “I’m in a different season now.”
