Tennis Legend Andre Agassi Promotes Pickleball in Australia, Thinks Sport Will Grow More in Asia

It’s no secret pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world—if not the fastest.

Tennis legend Andre Agassi, who has taken a liking to the sport, believes pickleball is only going to grow more, particularly in Asia. It certainly doesn’t hurt that sporting legends like himself are serving as de facto ambassadors of the sport just by playing it.

And, in November, Agassi all but promoted the sport, playing a doubles exhibition in a pickleball court in Sydney, Australia as part of the UBS Australasia conference. The 54-year-old, even with a noticeable limp, looked spry and exuberant as he played his pickleball, hitting forehands and backhands and engaging the crowd with his flamboyant talk. He later posed gamely for selfies with fans and fellow picklers as he soaked in the energetic atmosphere only the pickleball community can provide.

“I don’t sort of say, ‘Pickleball over tennis,’” Agassi told the crowd postmatch. “Pickle’s all about playing. It’s a low point of entry.”

Then, at the UBS Conference that followed, Agassi asked the assembled audience who plays pickleball. He seemed surprise only a few people raised their hands, but later on emphasised that the sport will explode even more worldwide.

“Oh my goodness… In the next five years, you’re gonna see, it is crazy,” Agassi said.

The eight-time Grand Slam winner is just one of many former and current athletes who has invested in pickleball, having already invested in Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating (DUPR). The DUPR is an online ranking system that evaluates players’ skill levels based on their match results and connects picklers to one another in an easy, convenient way. In doing so, Agassi joined the ranks of LeBron James, Tom Brady, Heidi Klum, and Eva Longoria as celebrities who have invested in the sport.

Agassi’s passion and investment in the sport aren’t just lip service either. Come January, he and DUPR will launch the Pickleball World Rankings league tournament in India, where an estimated 15,000 Indians competed in the most recent tournament of 2024. That number is a 400% increase from 2020, when only around 3,000 participated, according to the All-India Pickleball Association.

The DUPR is expanding considerably as a result, with various pickleball clubs sprouting left and right all across Asia. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam are among the top users of the DUPR’s ranking system—with China likely to follow suit after DUPR expanded into China last year.

With sporting luminaries, it’s just a matter of time before the rest of Asia gets in line as well.