With multiple pro tours and new venues everywhere, pickleball’s growth shows no signs of slowing down.
All eyes were on Anna Leigh Waters #AL 15, and Ben Johns, 23, a mixed doubles team and perhaps the two brightest stars in the rapidly expanding pickleball universe, phenoms changing the way the game is both played and perceived. Competing in the Baird Wealth Management Open, one of the biggest events staged by the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA), Waters and Johns are torchbearers for a young sport with a future as promising as it is unpredictable.
“You’ve got to remember that people couldn’t do anything, but they could go out in their driveway or in their cul-de-sac or the street or the park,” said Leigh Waters, one of the nation’s top doubles players who teams with her daughter Anna Leigh. “And they could do it with their family. It didn’t matter what age they were, what athletic ability they were.”
“I used to hear, like, ‘Ha-ha, that’s just an old-person sport,” the 15-year-old said with a laugh. “But now they see me on TV and stuff. Or they see that I’m playing with celebrities that they know. And I’m like: ‘I told you. Pickleball is a legit thing.’ ” (Read Article)
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