Pro tennis player Andre Agassi is coming out of retirement and is going pro.
He will be on the court, but not playing the game he was known for. Instead, he has picked up a pickleball paddle.
Agassi, 54, will appear in the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships next week and will be on the court with the top pickleball player, 18-year-old Anna Leigh Waters, USA Today reported.
His first match will be on April 30. It will be his first professional pickleball appearance.
Waters said she got the idea to play against the eight-time Grand Slam singles champion after watching him play on YouTube.
She said she didn’t have a partner for the mixed doubles tournament.
“She’s probably sick of winning so much, that’s why she called me and asked me to play,” Agassi told CNBC.
Agassi has made a name for himself in the sport as a spokesperson and has endorsed Joola, a pickleball gear company.
He said he liked the sport because of its social and inclusive nature.
Pickleball combines tennis and ping-pong, using paddles and a wiffleball. There were about 13 million pickleball players in the U.S., according to data compiled by Statista in 2023. Some reports have it even higher.
It was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, when three dads came up with a game for their bored kids.
The U.S. Open Pickleball Championships will be held in Naples, Florida, from April 26 to May 3.
Agassi also has a new job off the court.
He will serve as studio analyst for TNT Sports during the semi-finals and finals of the French Open.
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