Andre Agassi has not simply joined pickleball. He’s pulling folks into it.
That a lot was clear at The Hood in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, the place the eight-time Grand Slam champion and world No. 1 Ben Johns drew over 100 followers into an intimate however electrical setting for the JOOLA Titans Tour 2026 exhibition. The power within the room informed the story earlier than anybody mentioned a phrase.
For Christian Didier Chin, the second was private. The 25-year-old native tennis ace turned padel professional as soon as wore Agassi’s signature footwear as a child. Seeing him within the flesh, in a pickleball context, landed in a different way.
“I don’t assume anybody anticipated him to leap into pickleball and take it to the following degree,” Chin informed The Malay Mail. “It’s his charisma… his character. That’s what’s driving this.”
The impression, he mentioned, goes properly past nostalgia. Agassi’s involvement is giving Malaysian gamers one thing to purpose towards—and beginning them youthful than ever.
“It gave extra motivation for Malaysian gamers to wish to play… to grow to be one thing greater,” Chin added.
Beginning Out Younger and Changing Others
Olympic badminton silver medallist Goh Liu Ying, 36, is already changing. The previous shuttler has since traded smashes for paddles, and she or he sees precisely why the game is rising so quick.
“Pickleball, the barrier to entry is decrease. Pictures are largely under the waist and whereas there are nuances it’s fairly easy to study,” she mentioned. “I’ll say it’s extra social.”
Goh has already begun introducing the game to youngsters by means of the Kidlympics programme, and the response has knowledgeable her fascinated with the place pickleball sits in Malaysia’s sporting panorama. “Both means it’s good that you’ve many sports activities round you to take pleasure in,” she mentioned.
The Hood itself is a bodily expression of what pickleball’s rise seems to be like on the bottom. Proprietor Low Juan Shen, 32 and a former nationwide badminton participant, reworked what was as soon as an deserted exhibition area right into a lifestyle-driven sports activities hub—courts, cafés, and what regulars have described as five-star bogs. He is aware of what’s drawing folks in, and it’s not simply the game.
“Everybody attire up, very Instagrammable… you bought gang, you bought group, you bought the social facet,” Low mentioned.
He additionally is aware of who delivers the largest pull on the door.
“In the event you say Ben Johns, pickleball folks will know. However Agassi… everyone reacts.”
