Andre Agassi and Anna Leigh Waters hope the impact of their mixed doubles pairing at the US Open Pickleball Championships in Naples extends far beyond the court.
The iconic duo, separated in age by nearly four decades, is united in a desire to continue to grow the sport. On April 29, the day before their televised debut at the US Open and also Agassi’s 55th birthday, the tennis legend and the pickleball prodigy professed their shared commitment during a press conference before a packed house at the Zing Zang Court at East Naples Community Park.
“Tennis players and pickleball players like to argue and fight over which sport’s better,” said the 18-year-old Waters, the No. 1 ranked female pickleball player in the world. “But we believe both sports can co-exist. We’re hoping pickleball fans and tennis fans and just fans of Andre and myself will tune in and watch us play and maybe we get one person who’s never played pickleball to go out and try it for the first time.”
Agassi, who will be playing his first pro pickleball match at the US Open, said picking up the sport has been like riding a roller coaster.
“I have this conflict, like I can’t tell. Is this fun? Is this anxiety,” he said. “There’s probably a lot of tennis players, peers of mine, that are looking forward to seeing a slow motion train wreck on my side of the court.”
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“I’ll always say tennis is the most demanding racket sport, physically, mentally, emotionally but I’m biased of course. I also tell tennis players, get over it. This sport is growing and it needs to be a part of people’s lives. Playing nicely in the sandbox is a good thing for everyone.”
Waters, who made her debut as an 11-year-old at the inaugural US Open teamed up with her grandfather, said the opportunity to play with Agassi is still one she can’t quite believe.
The partnership originated with Waters seeing a YouTube video of the tennis legend playing pickleball and reaching out to the tennis legend.
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“The first conversation we had, the way he talked to me, it was like we had known each other five years, Waters said. “He made me feel so comfortable. That was the first time where I was like, all right, maybe this can work. Now how can I convince him to play with me?
“My mom and I had watched him on YouTube and we’re like, he’s got the game. This will be so much fun. I can’t wait.”
Agassi said the decision to join Waters at the US Open was an easy one.
“When Anna Leigh Waters asks you to do anything you say yes because that’s how much I respect what she’s managed to do in this great game that has added to my life,” he said. “There’s some things that I do pretty OK in this game and there’s other things that make me a little nervous. But that’s where I get to count on like the greatest player on the court ever to cover for that.”
Agassi, who was the No. 3-ranked men’s tennis player in the world when he was 18, said Waters becoming such a pickleball power at her age is incredibly impressive.
“For her to be 18 and to have separated herself from the field with that kind of distance for this period of time and to do it with everybody nipping at her heels and trying to use her as a barometer … I mean, that’s all signs of somebody who’s just great at what they do,” he said. “I’m a curious person. I’ll go into any field and respect the person that does it the best and in this case, to be out there, sort of helping is an incredible feeling for me.”
While capturing the mixed doubles title at the US Open would obviously prove their partnership a success, Agassi said he’s hoping for an even better measure.
“A win for me will be when this is over that Anna Lehigh looks at me and says, ‘ Do you want to play again,’” he said. “That would be cool.”
