Andre Agassi loving new career after making debut | Sports News

Andre Agassi has bought the pickleball itch after the eight-time Grand Slam winner traded his racket for a paddle.

Since retiring from skilled tennis back in 2006, Agassi has remained a pivotal determine within the sporting world. The 55-year-old has turn out to be an avid fan of Germany’s national baseball group – which his son performs for – and was signed by TNT Sports as a studio analyst for the Semifinal and Championship rounds of Roland-Garros.

Most lately, Agassi dusted off his tennis sneakers and made his skilled pickleball debut within the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships alongside Anna Leigh Waters – the top-ranked feminine participant on the planet. The pair gained within the opening spherical of the combined event earlier than dropping their second match.

For Agassi, the choice to group up with Waters was a no-brainer. “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 I’ve added in my life,” he advised reporters during a pre-match press convention. “So I couldn’t say no.

“I’ve watched so much on television, I play it a lot for me based on the balance of my life. But to see it live and to see the interactions and to see sort of the culture of all you guys, the fans.

“I’m thrilled because there’s some things I do pretty okay in this game, other things kind of make me a little nervous, but that’s where I get to count on the greatest player ever to cover for that. So it’s perfect.”

Fresh off his skilled debut, to say that Agassi is having fun with pickleball could be an understatement. “Dude, I’m not simply liking it, I’m loving it,” he advised Fox News’ Ryan Morik. “It’s an anomaly to see any assist ever at this sort of tempo, however it’s simple to see why.

“My household was in search of issues to do, and watching how like convey people collectively, generations collectively, how it breaks cultural limitations, breaks down gender limitations, breaks down generational limitations, low-point of entry, no person’s intimated to strive it, it is difficult at each stage. Tell me when to stop, for crying out loud.”

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Though Agassi achieved no shortage of success during his decorated tennis career, he conceded that there are still areas of his pickleball game that could be improved. “It’s actually laborious. These guys are so specialised, it is so delicate, such little margin for error,” he said.

“There’s a lot nuance that creates alternative. It’s not like ‘see space, hit space.’ There was a lot I needed to unlearn, however some issues got here instinctively. I grew up with a racket in my hand, and on this case it is a paddle, so I’m going to make good contact. But the blood strain, it is laborious to seek out a place to put it once you’re on the market on the pickle court docket.”