Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf
A tennis couple enjoys a pickleball match together
Steffi Graf and her husband Andre Agassi playing pickleball together.
© IMAGO/Cover Images
Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf have pickleball fever. The couple prevailed in mixed doubles at a tournament.
It is probably the most up-and-coming trend sport of the last few months: pickleball. Also the two tennis legends Andre Agassi (53) and his wife Steffi Graf (54) discovered the sport long ago. The pair are regularly on the pitch – both against and with each other. As part of the “Pickleball Slam” tournament series at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, the two met none other than John McEnroe (64) and Maria Sharapova (36) in mixed doubles over the weekend.
In the duel between the four former world number one, who have a total of 42 Grand Slam singles titles, Graf and Agassi won quite confidently with 11:7 and 13:11 against their no less famous opponents and can claim “The Pickleball Slam 2” title holders. The tournament also comes with prize money of one million US dollars. After the match, Steffi Graf told the US site “USA Today Sports” when asked what they would do with the money: “I’m sure we have some good ideas.”
Steffi Graf has been playing pickleball “seriously” for six months
Steffi Graf stated that she had been playing pickleball “seriously” with Agassi for six months, who had been playing the sport regularly for a long time. However, she was “a little nervous” before her first big game in front of an audience: “I haven’t felt like this for many years.” For her it was a great audience: “That was really something special.”
Agassi, who also took part in “Pickleball Slam 1”, said about the new sport, which is often still frowned upon among tennis players: “The sports could live and play together in a sandbox. There are “There’s no reason why a tennis player doesn’t have a racket in his bag and can pull it out at any time. Courts are everywhere now.” He believes that the negative attitude is becoming less and less.
Pickleball is a small-sided sport that combines elements of tennis, table tennis and badminton. Pickleball was invented around 60 years ago in the USA, and in recent years it has enjoyed increasing popularity and matured into a trend sport – also in Germany. Pickleball has been a recognized sport in this country for almost ten years, and the first German Pickleball Championships took place in 2019.