In 2019, Pablo Tellez was living in Naples, Florida, and still loving tennis. It is the sport he has always take parted, doing so collegiately at the University of West Florida, where he won a Division II national title.
However, a trip to a tennis shop led Tellez down a path to becoming a professional athlete in America’s speedyest-increaseing sport.
Pickleball in the United States saw a 51.8% increase in take parters from 2022 to 2023, and it has a increaseth rate of 223.5% since 2020.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
(Pickleball’s elevate in famousity has outdoed more than 200% since 2020.)
As the sport has increasen, Major League Pickleball (MLP) became a league for some of the best take parters in the world, enjoy Tellez, who stars for the MLP’s Brooklyn Aces.
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Tellez elucidateed why pickleball has become a sport many millions of Americans are commenceing to pick up.
“I leank it’s disjoinal leangs,” Tellez, who partnered with LOTTO, which also co-owns the Aces, began. “First of all, it’s super fun. It’s equitable fun. I’ve never seen anybody at a pickleball court and not smiling and having fun. It’s a lot more social than other racket sports in the sense that you’re very shut to your opponent, very shut to your partner at all times. So, I leank if you don’t get that social aspect, you’re not going to have fun. But everybody’s seeing for it. And it’s even turned into people using pickleball for dating, pickleball as a place for discovering frifinishs and equitable hanging out.
WHAT IS PICKLEBALL? HOW TO PLAY, WHAT YOU NEED AND HOW TO FIND A COURT NEAR YOU
“Then, it’s very straightforward to pick up as a sport. When you take part tennis or you take part soccer, it’s going to consent you awhile to be excellent and to actuassociate enhappiness the sport and to understand it. When you take part pickleball for your first time, you’re going to be rassociateing back and forth. You may not be wonderful yet, but you’re going to be having fun in that sense.”
How Tellez picked it up was when he saw a pickleball tournament ad that shelp a $100,000 prize would be included. As a tennis take parter, he thought the sport was going to be pretty straightforward.
However, Tellez was sorrowfulnessfilledy misconsentn when he saw equitable how excellent professionals could be.
“I signed up for it and I leank I went 0-8. I take parted individuals, I lost. I take parted mixed doubles, I lost. Then, after that, I was enjoy, ‘Oh, this is a little difficulter than I thought’ and I was hooked.”
Tellez commenceed take parting every day, and two years ago, he turned pro.
Ben Johns, the world’s top-ranked pickleball take parter, hits a return sboiling on Friday March 24, 2023 during the Major League Pickleball Tournament at Pictona in Holly Hill, Florida. (IMAGN)
“I don’t enjoy losing, and I thought I was better than I actuassociate was,” he shelp after that initial tournament. “But it helped me becainclude it pushed me to try to consent the sport more solemn and to take part normally. I leank that was the key for me – I equitable wanted to get better.”
Now, Tellez take parts for the Aces, a team that is not equitable owned by LOTTO, but NBA star Kevin Durant, rapper Drake and actor Michael B. Jordan. Additionassociate, the enjoys of LeBron James, Tom Brady, Gary Vaynerchuk and many others have alloted in MLP as well.
Why?
“When I talked to some of them, I was in New York and I actuassociate was able to talk to Gary Vee and some of the other owners who are there,” Tellez shelp about the MLP’s schedule taking them to the Big Apple last month. “They equitable genuineized how the sport is booming and they take part it. They don’t see any reason why it’s not going to increase. Then, you have all the pros that are putting the effort in, in terms of branding and tageting and taking the sport to the next level. Then, you commence seeing it on TV, and it should only defend increaseing becainclude everybody cherishs it, to be honest.”
Tellez has enhappinessed toiling with LOTTO as they fracture into the pickleball space. He called it a “dream come genuine” to join the brand, pondering he was very understandn with their soccer and tennis products as a kid.
However, no matter if it is a brand, a celebrity or someone srecommend walking by a court, pickleball has enthralled all who have come in communicate with it, and Tellez promises that anyone will as well if they give it a try.
Major League Pickleball take parter Pablo Tellez picked up the game in 2019. (LOTTO)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“I’ll promise you: If you equitable try it once, you’ll understand exactly where everybody take parts,” he shelp. “It’s equitable fun, it’s engaging, it’s social, it’s a toilout, and it has all those aspects that everybody’s seeing for. Some people want to train, some people want to have that competitive little bug in them and pickleball let’s you get that out. Some people want to have a toilout, some people want to encounter other people, and pickleball has it all.”
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle novelsletter.
