Why Tennis Legends Agassi and Graf Can’t Stop Playing Pickleball

The latest from Hidden Sports

Written by David

Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf play pickleball. That might just be our favourite sporting sentence of the year.

If you’re someone who grew up watching tennis in the 90s, those two names carry serious weight. They’re royalty. Legends. Between them? Thirty Grand Slam singles titles. Olympic medals. And a shared legacy of dominance, resilience, and grit. So what are they doing now? Playing a game with a plastic paddle and a wiffle ball….and loving every second of it.

Agassi and Graf recently revealed they took up pickleball during the pandemic. Like many people, they were stuck at home, looking for something fun and active that didn’t involve endless Zoom calls or watching the same Netflix series twice. A friend introduced them to pickleball, and the two of them have been hooked ever since.

It’s not just an occasional knockabout, either. They play regularly. They bring paddles when they travel. They’re promoting the sport in countries like Vietnam and China. Quietly, but with intention. It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes push that says more than any press release ever could.

The thing that stands out most, though, is how natural it all feels. These two have spent their entire lives in the high-pressure world of elite sport. They’ve trained harder than most of us can imagine. They’ve dealt with expectation, injuries, burnout, and everything in between. And now they’re just... playing. For fun. For movement. For the joy of a well-placed shot and a shared laugh.

Agassi described it as a perfect mix: enough strategy to keep it interesting, but relaxed enough that it doesn’t wreck your body. Graf echoed that, saying pickleball has become a genuinely enjoyable part of their life, something they can share with friends, stay active with, and keep competitive in a low-key way.

And honestly, that’s kind of the magic of pickleball.

It’s not a sport that asks you to be brilliant. It just asks you to show up. The court’s smaller. The rules are simple. The barrier to entry is basically zero. And within ten minutes of trying it, you're playing an actual rally and feeling like an athlete again. It’s no wonder Agassi and Graf, two people who have given everything to the pursuit of excellence, are finding joy in something so fundamentally accessible.

It also says a lot about where racket sports are heading. For years, tennis has been trying to figure out how to grow the game at a grassroots level. How do you compete with sports that are quicker to learn, more social, and less demanding on the joints? Well, here’s one answer: you don’t compete. You embrace.

That’s what makes this story worth more than a passing headline. It’s a reminder that even the most serious athletes can find something new to love in sport. That fun and fitness don’t have to be opposites. And that maybe, just maybe, pickleball isn’t a fad -it’s a future.

We’re not saying Agassi and Graf are about to headline a pro pickleball tournament, but if they did… we’d definitely tune in.

If you haven’t tried pickleball yet, this might be your sign. It’s fun, it’s fast to learn, and it’s one of the most inclusive sports around. Whether you’re super competitive or just looking for a way to get active again, it meets you where you are. Grab a paddle, find a local court, and give it a go, you might be surprised how much you enjoy it.

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