World Pickleball Champion Jimmy Liong Follows ‘Own Pace’ as He Forges Success in Sports and Business
Successful entrepreneur.
Young pickler.
World pickleball champion.
That’s Malaysia’s pride Jimmy Liong Kai Long, who in September became the first Malaysian to win the 2024 World Pickleball Championship by topping the Philippines’ Davis Alano, 21-15, in the men’s singles over-19 category.
It is an impressive feat no doubt. It goes beyond impressive when you consider Jimmy isn’t even all-in on pickleball—at least not in the way the greatest athletes are in their respective sports.
At the moment, the 22-year-old champion is serving two masters—pickleball and business—and doing it exceptionally well. There’s the world’s fastest-rising sport, of course, which Jimmy started playing at the end of last year only, when he and a friend joined Catchers Malaysia—and won.
Yes, Jimmy won the first-ever pickleball tournament he played in. And, from the looks of it, it was a portent of things to come for the precocious young man who had started out playing tennis before transitioning to pickleball. Not even a year later, Jimmy has added world pickleball champion to his growing list of accomplishments.
“Hard work, dedication, and love for the game paid off. Grateful for the journey and the support that got me here!” he wrote on Instagram after winning the championship back in September in Bali, Indonesia.
The Jimmy Mentality for the Win!
It’s quite the feat, all right, especially for someone just looking to making it past the group stage of the tournament.
“During the group stage, I was just trying to get through it, you know, because it’s my second international tournament,” Jimmy told Pickleball News Asia (PNA) “I was just trying to get through the group stage, and after the group stage was round of 16. Som I was like, okay, I did very well. [At that point] I’m just going to keep trying my best just to play.”
Play and play Jimmy did, getting past the group stage and then making it to the semis. And, by this time, Jimmy was starting to believe he could go all the way and win it all. Through it all, Jimmy also kept things real simple: He just played his game. Call it the Jimmy mentality.
“I was just telling myself, go for it, you know, not much strategy. Mostly I just played my game. I didn’t do anything extra or anything less,” he said. “I just keep using my weapons, you know, play my own strategy and not following the opponent’s pace.”
Jimmy followed his game, all right, and followed his pace—all the way to a championship.
Now that the 22-year-old pickler is a world pickleball champion, the most obvious question is: What’s next?
According to Jimmy, nothing’s for certain just yet—only that he’ll try to see where else pickleball takes him.
“I’ll try to go for more tournaments, try to see if I can really do it in the highest level because even though I just won a tournament, it’s still unclear,” he said. “But I’ll just give it a try, go for more tournaments, get more experience also in the pickleball world. If I can keep winning, I’ll just try my best.”
Jimmy the Businessman Is Busy—Very Busy
This seemingly vague appraisal of the future is to be expected, though. Jimmy as already mentioned isn’t just a precociously talented pickler; he is also a successful businessman. In fact, Jimmy told PNA that his sports shop, Sports Deal, is “already blowing up” with six branches in Malaysia so far. The champ, admittedly, is getting stressed out juggling from pickleball to business and back—especially now with his new venture, Infinity Sports Academy, a pickleball school of sorts whose more players playing the sport at a high level.
With so much to do aside from pickleball, Jimmy is just thankful for having such a supportive family, giving a shout-out, in particular, to his sister, whom he credits for managing his accounts and restocking his stores so he can focus on pickleball when it’s game time.
Incidentally, it’s not as if pickleball is far from Jimmy’s mind—and heart—because it most definitely is even with all that’s going on for Jimmy the entrepreneur. In fact, Jimmy the pickler is contemplating on actually turning pro full-time sooner rather than later—ideally before he turns 25 if the champ has his way. And he’s got a pretty clear idea on how he’ll go about this critical transition in his pickleball career.
“My plan is to arrange all my business by end of this year,” Jimmy said. “Then, next year, early of next year, like January, February, I can try to turn pro, go for a lot of touring tournaments.”
That’s a man with a plan. And, in essence, he is following the important advice he has for young picklers aspiring for great things in pickleball: Love the sport and follow your own pace.
Check and check.
There’s a Place and a Time for Everything
The tennis player-turned-pickler no doubt loves the sport, but he isn’t rushing things—not even after winning a world championship.
“Follow your own pace,” he told PNA when asked what advice he’d give young players. “Don’t do anything that is too much. Do what you like, do what you love, then it will just go, it will just be better and better.”
If that scenario looks eerily familiar, it’s because Jimmy’s pickleball career seems to be taking that very same trajectory: A young man doing what he loves and seeing the results getting better and better.
This young man, of course, is already a world pickleball champion and a successful businessman at the same time. Imagine what he’ll accomplish next when things get even better.
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