Andre Agassi and Anna Leigh Waters win first match at US Open Pickleball Championships, fall in Round of 16

Alex Lantz

Director of Content

Last Edited

Apr 30 2025

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News

Tennis legend Andre Agassi and world No. 1 women's pickleball player Anna Leigh Waters won their first match Wednesday at the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships, but lost their Round of 16 match later in the day.

They defeated 13-year-old Stevie Petropouleas and 16-year-old Tristan Dussault 11-8, 9-11, 11-7 in the Round of 32 at the annual event that has been hosted in Naples, Florida, since 2016. They later lost to Trang Huynh-McClain and Len Yang 7-11, 11-4, 11-7 in the Round of 16.

Waters is also playing women's doubles with her mom, Leigh Waters, and they have advanced to the quarterfinals with wins in their first two rounds. They are the defending champions in women's doubles.

Agassi and Waters announced earlier this month that they would be teaming up in the tournament, marking Agassi's professional pickleball debut.

The tennis legend has been heavily involved in pickleball for the past several years, however, releasing a signature line of paddles with JOOLA earlier this year.

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.

Although he said he was 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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