Pickleball has the potential to become as big as tennis. Many pro pickleball players have played tennis at some point in their careers.
With the rapid growth of Pickleball in the United States, many sportspersons are switching to pickleball. These sports include tennis, baseball, volleyball, and even golf.
As pickleball has few similarities with tennis, many tennis players are moving to pickleball.
Do you want to know which famous tennis players converting to pickleball?
In this article, I have discussed pro tennis players who switched to pickleball.
After this list, I have also discussed why tennis players are moving to pickleball.
So read on picklers!
List of Tennis Players Who Now Play Pickleball
Eugenie Bouchard: Eugenie is Canada’s most popular female tennis player. She was runner-up in Wimbledon 2014. Just a few months ago, she left tennis to join the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Tour.
Jack Sock: Jack is an American tennis player. He has won 3 grand slams in doubles. In the 2016 Olympics, Jack earned a gold medal in mixed doubles with Bethanie Mattek-Sands. He also won bronze in doubles with Steve Johnson.
Jack has suffered several injuries in the last decade. To reduce physical effort, he switched to pickleball.
Sam Querrey: 36-year-old Sam represented the nation in multiple international tennis tournaments. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of No. 11.
Sam was signed by the D.C. Pickleball Team in Major League Pickleball in 2022.
Kaitlyn Christia: Kaitlyn is one of my favorite pickleball players. Tennis was her first sport, but she has been playing pickleball for quite some time.
Quang Duong: Earlier this year, Quang surprised the pickleball world when he defeated Ben Johns in the Hyundai Masters.
Before moving to pickleball, 18-year-old Quang Duong was playing in ITF junior tennis tournaments.
Tyson McGuffin: Tyson is an idol of millions of pickleball players. Before pickleball, Tyson was into wrestling in his college days. He then switched to tennis to pursue his passion.
Tyson earned 7 PPA titles and is the second most successful male pickleball player after Ben Johns.
Collin Johns: Collin was passionate about tennis, baseball, and table tennis. Later he pursued a career in professional tennis.
With the help of his younger brother Ben Johns, Collin mastered pickleball within a year. In just 5 years, he earned 27 pickleball titles.
Jessie Irvine: Due to health issues, the legendary athlete from North Carolina switched from tennis to pickleball.
She is one of the best doubles and mixed doubles pickleball players. She won her first doubles title with Ben Johns in 2019.
Matt Wright: In 2016, Matt switched from tennis to pickleball. Matt Wright won several championships including the US Open (Men’s Doubles), and USAPA National Championships (Men’s Doubles & Mixed Doubles).
Jay Devilliers: From childhood, Jay was passionate about different sports including soccer, tennis, squash, table tennis, swimming, handball, etc. At 14, Jay Devilliers started his professional training in Spain.
He switched to pickleball in 2019 and in 2020, he moved to professional pickleball. In just 4 years, Jay earned 18 APP and 2 PPA titles.
Riley Newman: 29-year-old Riley is from Arizona. He earned 18 gold medals in PPA and 5 championships in Major League Pickleball.
As a hobby, he also teaches pickleball in the United States.
Irina Tereschenko: Irina was a tennis coach at Texas Tech University. Later on, she switched to professional pickleball. Within a short period, Irina won 4 MLP championships.
Callie Jo Smith: In 2019, Callie Jo Smith switched from tennis to pickleball. However, she is still teaching tennis. She earned 2 PPA titles and won more than 70 pickleball tournament championships. She is known for her charming personality among picklers.
Lucy Kovalova: To pursue her passion for tennis, Lucy moved from Slovakia to the United States. He retired from tennis in 2015 and converted to pickleball.
James Blake: Due to the rapid growth of pickleball, a former pro tennis player James Blake turned to pickleball. He owns a pro team in major league pickleball.
Noah Rubin: 2014 Wimbledon Junior Champion, Noah Rubin criticized the tennis game and announced his pickleball career in 2022.
Gigi Fernández: 2 Olympic gold medalists and 17 grand slam winners Gigi is now enjoying pickleball. 60-year-old Gigi now participates in multiple senior pickleball tournaments.
Why Tennis Players Are Switching to Pickleball?
In the last 5 years, many tennis players moved to pickleball. A few important reasons behind this switch are:
- Pickleball gives less physical stress than tennis. Especially some senior tennis players prefer pickleball if they had injuries in the past.
- Tennis players have low competition in pickleball. Many former tennis players have professional experience of more than 10 years. This experience gives them an edge over new pickleball players.
- Pickleball has seen exponential growth in sponsors, and prizes. With the rising popularity, many entrepreneurs and athletes are investing in new tournaments, brands, and broadcasting. As a result, the earnings of pro pickleball players have increased drastically. These players are also getting many teaching opportunities.
Conclusion
Millions of junior and senior tennis players are moving from tennis to pickleball. Some play pickleball as a hobby, while others pursue a professional career.
Some former tennis players are considering pickleball as a teaching business.
Many players prefer pickleball over tennis as it requires less effort. However, the path to becoming a professional pickleball player takes a lot of work.
I am sure you understand why tennis players moving to pickleball. In the future, I will keep updating the list of tennis players who now play pickleball.
It will be interesting to see how both sports will evolve in the future.