James Chaudry is enjoying the meteoric rise of pickleball in the UK

Ex-tennis pro James Chaudry is backing pickleball to keep growing in the UK after falling in love with the American racket sport.

The Southampton-born professional was a promising tennis player in his youth, trading volleys with 2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic as a youngster but was forced to abandon his tennis dream after repeated injuries.

And, after discovering pickleball while living in the United States, Chaudry revealed it was love at first serve.

"I got injured and retired from tennis at 23. I still wanted to play but I was injury-prone and had several surgeries. I found pickleball a little later when I moved to the US,” said Chaudry," said Konta, who attended Pickleball England's Pickleball Slam alongside former British No.1s Greg Rusedski and Johanna Konta, and top British pickleball players Louis Laville, Thaddea Lock, and Pei-Chuan Kao in Kingston.

"The sport was exploding; I'd seen it a lot but not actually competed in it. I then moved back to the UK in 2019 wanting to play a form of racket sport outside tennis and pickleball came to me.

"From the moment I started playing, I loved it. I saw that it was so inclusive. I made an enormous network of new friends through it. It attracted me through the fun skills you learn, and it kept me through the community.

"I don't think there are many vehicles in your adult life that introduce you to a whole new group of people and friends. That's why pickleball kept my attention and I've made so many friendships.

"That diversity of player and person and personality in the sport is what keeps me coming. I love being part of the community."

Pickleball was invented as a children's backyard game in Washington, US, in 1965, combining elements of badminton, tennis and table tennis and is rapidly rising in popularity in the UK.

A fully-fledged pickleball convert, Chaudry won the 2023 English Nationals and is targeting more success at the English Open in August.

And he is encouraging others to hit the court and pick up a paddle, citing the sport's accessibility and inclusivity.

He added: "Barriers to entry are so low, there's no real excuse to not at least go down to your local rec centre and ask to play the sport.

"You'll be amazed how welcoming the different leisure sites and centres are and the community in general. There's so much encouragement to get people out there.

"It's one of the few active sports that you can look to and see people from the age of 5 to 85 playing consistently and I don't think you see that across other racket sports really.

"If you look at the player base and the membership base of Pickleball England, you'll see just as many people in their teens playing as people in their seventies, eighties.

"It's so cross-generational that kids can play with their parents and grandparents. The skill gaps aren't as large as you would see in other sports and the physical gaps aren't as extreme as you'd see in other sports.

"From a social level, the size of the court, the equipment, it's an equaliser. Everyone can go out there and have fun and be around different types of people."

Sportsbeat 2024