Andre Agassi to play with No. 1 women's player Anna Leigh Waters at U.S. Open Pickleball Championships
Last Edited
Apr 22 2025
Category
News
Tennis Hall-of-Famer Andre Agassi will play mixed doubles with world No. 1 Anna Leigh Waters at the upcoming U.S. Open Pickleball Championships, the two announced Tuesday morning.
Agassi has been heavily involved in pickleball for the past several years, releasing a signature line of paddles with JOOLA earlier this year, but this will be his professional debut.
Agassi and Waters will play their first match April 30 at noon ET at the annual event that has been hosted in Naples, Florida, since 2016.
The partnership was Waters' idea, she told CNBC.
"She’s probably sick of winning so much, and that’s why she called me and asked me to play,” Agassi joked.
The 55-year-old also has been promoting the sport along with Life Time fitness clubs nationwide -- he's the chair of Life Time's pickleball and tennis board. He also hosted the Inaugural Agassi Open Play Day earlier this month, inviting pickleball players all over the country to play at their local Life Time club.
Waters has apparently been paying attention to Agassi's rise in pickleball, telling CNBC that she had watched him play on YouTube and liked his game.
“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.”
Although he's looking forward to competing at the pro level, Agassi indicated he doesn't intend to pursue a second career as a pro pickleball player.
“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.”
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