{"id":108426,"date":"2026-04-15T20:28:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T23:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/the-pickleball-slam-anna-leigh-waters-and-a-sport-trying-to-escape-the-gravity-of-tennis-stars\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T20:28:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T23:28:48","slug":"the-pickleball-slam-anna-leigh-waters-and-a-sport-trying-to-escape-the-gravity-of-tennis-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/the-pickleball-slam-anna-leigh-waters-and-a-sport-trying-to-escape-the-gravity-of-tennis-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pickleball Slam, Anna Leigh Waters and a sport trying to escape the gravity of tennis stars"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Pickleball<\/a>, one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States, has reached another milestone. The fourth edition of the Pickleball Slam<\/a>, one of its most visible events, is not like the previous three. This time, for the first time, one of the four players on the court did not make their name as a tennis star.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s huge,\u201d said Anna Leigh Waters<\/a>, the player in question, in a phone interview Saturday. \u201cThe Pickleball Slam is a big event. Pickle is in the name, so it\u2019s kind of cool that we have finally, a legit, like, full-bred pickleball player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waters, though only 19, is generally accepted to be the greatest player in the short history of the sport, alongside Ben Johns on the men\u2019s circuit.<\/p>\n

Waters has won 181 gold medals and 39 triple crowns \u2014 golds in singles, doubles and mixed at the same pickleball tournament \u2014 and is the PPA (Professional Pickleball Association) Tour world No. 1 for all three of those disciplines. In January, she became the first pickleball athlete to sign with Nike<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Pickleball Slam is broadcast live on ESPN and awards $1 million to the winning pair. With its hefty prize pot and ESPN deal, it is an event in search of eyeballs \u2014 which it has previously guaranteed by stocking its roster with tennis legends who have become pickleball converts, either on the sport\u2019s professional circuit or as investors.<\/p>\n

Grand Slam champions Andre Agassi<\/a>, Steffi Graf<\/a>, John McEnroe, Maria Sharapova<\/a>, Michael Chang and Andy Roddick<\/a> have all competed, but Waters is the first pickleball professional to take the court who has not hit a tennis ball for a living.<\/p>\n

Waters will partner former WTA Tour world No. 5 Eugenie Bouchard<\/a>, up against one-time ATP Tour world No. 4 James Blake and eight-time Grand Slam champion Agassi.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was honestly really cool to watch some of the ex-pro tennis players play pickleball and battle against each other in a different sport that\u2019s similar to tennis, but obviously not the same,\u201d Waters said of previous editions of the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do think that adding a professional pickleball player into the mix hopefully makes it more entertaining, because you\u2019ll see a little bit more nuance of the game than people who are really good at tennis playing pickleball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon Venison, a sports executive and co-creator of the Pickleball Slam at GSE Worldwide, which, along with Horizon Sports & Experiences, is producing the event, said via email that Waters\u2019 involvement, alongside the three former tennis pros, is \u201ca clear sign that the sport is now producing its own stars and continuing to evolve on its own terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tennis and pickleball<\/a> have not always coexisted easily, but the evolution of the two sports \u2014 and the relevance of tennis players in events such as the Pickleball Slam \u2014 suggests that any tensions are fading as the latter\u2019s market matures.<\/p>\n

While tennis clubs across the U.S. have converted tennis courts to pickleball courts, both sports have grown in the past few years at the amateur level and tennis has remained well ahead of its sibling in the spectatorship stakes.<\/p>\n

In February, the USTA announced that tennis participation in the United States had increased by 1.6 million in 2025 to a new high of 27.3 million total players, representing growth of 54 percent since 2019. Pickleball, meanwhile, continues to be one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States. An estimated 48.3 million adults dinked, hit and volleyed a small polymer ball over a 34-inch net between 2022 and 2023, according to the Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP).<\/p>\n

Agassi, who partnered with Waters at last year\u2019s U.S. Open Pickleball Championships<\/a>, is evangelical about the social and health benefits of pickleball, as well as honest about its friction with tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe pickleball and tennis have had their share of, let\u2019s say, frustrations with each other or annoyances on some level, some form of competitiveness early on in the days of pickleball\u2019s growth,\u201d he said in a phone interview last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think the growth is undeniable from a participation standpoint. And I think tennis players are a lot more secure in tennis being the Everest of racket sports. But they also understand that pickleball has its own place in the community, so I think there\u2019s less feeling of one or the other cannibalizing the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agassi has several pickleball investments and is a brand ambassador for Joola, a pickleball and table tennis company. He said of his ongoing involvement in the Pickleball Slam that: \u201cI\u2019ve been hit with weird offers over the years to play, whether it would be Serena (Williams) or whether it\u2019d be to do things in tennis \u2014 and there\u2019s nothing to understand or to try to prove. This isn\u2019t that, this is to me a celebration of how far this sport has come and, and its overlap with tennis and generations and gender and in culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnna Leigh represents the future of professional pickleball, including the highest level of competition, growing visibility, and a strong connection with fans,\u201d said David Levy, the Horizon Sports & Experiences co-chief executive and founder.<\/p>\n

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\n Andre Agassi partnered with Anna Leigh Waters at last year\u2019s pickleball U.S. Open Championships. (Greg Patron \/ Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Of the tensions between tennis and pickleball, Bouchard, who is also a Tennis Channel analyst, said during an interview at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells that: \u201cI\u2019m Switzerland, I\u2019m neutral.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a tennis player at heart. I love the traditions of tennis and the history of our game. But at the same time, it is such a long learning curve to be good at tennis, right? The first lesson, you\u2019re picking up balls the whole time. The first six months, you pick up balls. And if you don\u2019t play against someone who\u2019s very close to your level, it\u2019s not fun for both players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are stories of, yes, often people go from tennis to pickleball, but what if a kid starts in pickleball and goes over to tennis? I think it\u2019s a big world and there\u2019s room for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another eye-catching element of this year\u2019s Pickleball Slam is the \u201cBattle of the Sexes<\/a>\u201d element. It\u2019s the first time that the sport is pitting women against men (excluding mixed doubles matches), with Waters against Blake, Bouchard taking on Agassi, and then Bouchard and Waters pairing up for doubles.<\/p>\n

The doubles match will be the finale, following the two singles matches. The winner of each singles match will earn one point for their team, with the doubles carrying two points, in a format similar to tennis\u2019 Laver Cup, <\/strong>which is designed to keep the jeopardy until the end.<\/p>\n

The recent tennis \u201cBattle of the Sexes\u201d (named after the 1973 match featuring Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs) between world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> and former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios<\/a> drew some criticism. One of the main issues observers had with the December match was the modifications made to the court, with Sabalenka\u2019s half of the court 9 percent smaller \u2014 because of data, event organizers said, that showed that women players moved about 9 percent slower on average than men.<\/p>\n

There will be no such modifications Wednesday, which those involved said was an important difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see the women going toe to toe with the men and having fast-hands battles (in mixed doubles), and winning points against men,\u201d Waters said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPickleball is one of those sports where women can hang (with men). I think Genie and I can definitely hang with Andre and James, whereas in other sports, you know if a man and woman were to play against each other, it might not be as entertaining.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agassi said he was more interested in the age differential (Waters, 19, and Bouchard, 32, will face his 55 years and Blake\u2019s 46) and how big a difference in the \u201csubtlety\u201d of play there is from the pro pickleball pair compared to his and Blake\u2019s skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what to expect on the tennis court, where the edges are going to be and you\u2019re really wrestling with the nuance of how you need to execute,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have that same depth of experience (with pickleball), so everything always feels new to me. With tennis, I spent most of my career reminding myself that I\u2019ve prepared my whole life for this. And I will not see something new that I can\u2019t adjust to, but in pickle, it feels like there\u2019s still a lot that\u2019s new. So it\u2019s an adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bouchard said that Agassi\u2019s \u201cbackhand is insane in pickleball just the way it was in tennis,\u201d and added that \u201cit\u2019s good for the sport to have someone so accomplished buy into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Waters, though, who is the headliner Wednesday: The teenager defining her sport, representing it by taking on former players from its more popular and illustrious rival.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think it\u2019s cool to add in maybe two pickleball players or three, but having all four would kind of change the dynamic of what the Pickleball Slam\u2019s trying to do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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