Pickleballers Season 2, Episode 5: Tyra Black on how pickleball helped her rediscover joy
Last Edited
Nov 25 2025
Category
News
Tyra “Hurricane” Black grew up in the pressure cooker of junior tennis — sitting courtside in a stroller while her dad coached pros, traveling the world alone at 13 and being turned pro without even knowing it. The burnout, stress and antidepressants that followed nearly pushed her out of sports for good.
Then an earthquake in Turkey became her wake-up call. Tyra came home, tried pickleball and everything changed. Within two years she went from complete beginner to top-5 in the world, got signed to an MLP team before ever playing a tournament and even beat Anna Leigh Waters — all while rediscovering joy for the first time in years.
In this episode of Pickleballers, Tyra joins Roscoe and Jared to talk about leaving tennis, how pickleball helped her get off antidepressants, battling an autoimmune scare, MLP drama, protecting her Dallas Flash teammates, quitting singles after a PPA title and what she wants the sport to become. This episode is raw, honest and insanely inspiring.
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