Andre Agassi details challenges of being a tennis player moving to pickleball: "There's been a lot of unlearning"

Andre Agassi opened up about the challenges he has faced transitioning to playing pickleball after being a professional tennis player, ahead of the Pickleball Slam 3. The event is set to take place on February 16, 2025, at the Michelob ULTRA Arena located at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

In the third edition of the Pickleball Slam, Andre Agassi will be joined by his wife Steffi Graf, Andy Roddick, and Eugenie Bouchard for the tournament. On January 23, the official Instagram account of Pickleball Slam released a video featuring the eight-time Grand Slam champion discussing the difficulties he has encountered while making the switch from tennis to pickleball.

Andre Agassi stated that the primary challenge he has faced is the need to "unlearn" the instincts ingrained in him as a tennis player.

“One of the challenges of being a tennis player moving over to pickleball especially in doubles, it’s more seamless and singles, is you almost have to unlearn instincts,” Agassi said.

Agassi pointed out the contrasting styles of play between the two sports, noting that in tennis, players can be more aggressive and move faster to reach the ball, whereas pickleball requires a composed approach.

“In tennis you see space and you try to go after it aggressively. The balls may be faster but the persons further away so you kind of have this dancing that’s going on and then sort of expect this explosion through the ball. Pickle is like, you have to have urgency getting up to the ball but then you’ve got to stay calm in order to execute the shot. So that is very counter intuitive for a tennis player,” he added.

The former World No.1 also expressed how pickleball has provided him with a new mental and psychological outlet.

“So there’s been a lot of unlearning but at the same time you also have this ability to process and to adjust, so it’s really a great outlet from a psychological, mental, focus standpoint. I mean I’m tired after playing pickleball physically because I’m really expelling myself,” Andre Agassi continued.

Andre Agassi stated that pickleball is a different kind of "mental sport" compared to tennis.

“But I realised how differently I’m tired also took sort of mentally ‘cause you have to be so focused, partly because of the unlearning but the other part is the margins are so small, things can happen so quick and you’re in such proximity, that if you’re not fully locked on, the bottom can fall out. It’s a different kind of mental sport.” Agassi added.

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Andre Agassi won the first two editions of the Pickleball Slam

Andre Agassi in an event in Munich 2024 [Image Source: Getty Images[

The first edition of the Pickleball Slam took place in 2023 at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino & Hotel in Hollywood, Florida. Tennis legends Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, John McEnroe, and Michael Chang participated in the event

The Agassi-Roddick duo emerged victorious, defeating McEnroe and Chang with a score of 3-1 to secure the title, as well as the generous prize purse of $1 million.

In 2024, at the Pickleball Slam 2, Agassi teamed up with his wife, the legendary Steffi Graf. The tennis power couple faced off against the pair of John McEnroe and Maria Sharapova. The husband-wife duo, along with Jack Sock, triumphed over McEnroe, Sharapova and James Blake to claim the title.