From Tennis Courts to World Stage: How Maltsev Brothers Are Putting Kazakhstan on Pickleball Map
Kazakhstan isn’t the first country that comes to mind when pickleball is mentioned. Two brothers from Almaty are working to change that.
Vadim and Maxim Maltsev, both AlmaU students who came to the sport from tennis, are now professional players, founders of Twins Pickleball, and the first athletes from Kazakhstan to qualify for the Pickleball World Cup. In early September, they competed in Da Nang, Vietnam. But their story, as it turns out, goes well beyond reaching the international court.
The Maltsev Brothers Are More Than Just Players
The brothers are thinking like entrepreneurs, not only athletes. Vadim studies Sports Management at AlmaU, while Maxim studies another field at the university. Together, they are preparing a graduation project aimed at popularising and developing pickleball in Kazakhstan.
The plan is practical. They’re researching how clubs are established, tournaments organised, and partners attracted in other countries, so they can propose concrete steps for the sport back home. Down the line, one of those steps could be the creation of a national pickleball federation.
In the meantime, they’re building Twins Pickleball and bringing in partners and sponsors on their own. A sportswear brand and an Australian pickleball equipment brand are backing them, along with Almaty’s MetaBody clinic as their medical partner. Talks with an American brand are also under way.
Why Pickleball, and Why Now?
The timing is promising. Racket sports are growing in Kazakhstan. According to the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation, more than 33,000 people played tennis in 2025, and the padel community has grown to over 1,500 players, though the country had just 17 specialised courts when those figures were published.
That’s where the brothers see their opening. Pickleball needs only basic equipment and a suitable space, whether a courtyard, a school, or a sports hall. That makes it possible to introduce students, schoolchildren, and families to the game without paying to rent a specialised court.
An AlmaU faculty member who teaches Sports Management praised the pair’s approach. “They are already thinking not only as athletes, but also as entrepreneurs,” the faculty member said, adding that “passion alone is not enough” to make sport accessible, because you also need to know how to manage a project.
What Comes Next
The brothers’ next step is closer to home: an open master class for AlmaU students, with the university’s sports complex as the venue. They’ll help participants learn the basics and try the game, and if enough students want to keep playing, pickleball could become a new direction for the university’s sports club.
Further afield, they have four more international events on the calendar: Germany to end October 2026, Türkiye in November 2026, Argentina later in 2026, and Greece in 2027.
Indeed, a pair of tennis converts, a graduation project, and a few well-chosen sponsors don’t sound like much on paper. But they’re the kind of ingredients that start a national scene. If Kazakhstan does end up with a pickleball federation, the Maltsev brothers will have helped lay the first lines.
