Andre Agassi 'comfortable' ahead of pro pickleball debut

Andre Agassi won eight Grand Slam titles during his Hall of Fame tennis career. But when it comes to pickleball, he's making it clear that he's the student learning from an 18-year-old mentor.

Agassi and Anna Leigh Waters, the No. 1-ranked female pickleball player in the world, spoke to the public Tuesday -- one day before their anticipated debut as a mixed pro doubles team at the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships in Naples, Fla.

Agassi has played pickleball only in an amateur capacity before this tournament, so he's leaning on his highly experienced partner.

"I'll let Anna Leigh do all the analytics because she has a little more data than I have. I'll just tell you quickly what I needed before I sort of said, ‘OK, I'll jump into the fire,' " said Agassi, who turned 55 on Tuesday. "I needed her to see me firsthand and to tell me that she knows what she's dealing with, and if she's comfortable, then I'm comfortable."

They played together a couple times before moving forward with the U.S. Open entry.

"I actually scouted Andre on YouTube before I asked," Waters said, drawing laughter.

The action continued on the court Tuesday with the Round of 32 in the five pro categories: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles.

Agassi and Waters' team debut was saved for Wednesday at noon local time against Tristan Dussault and Stevie Petropouleas. The winner of that match advances to face Len Yang and Trang Huynh-McClain, who on Tuesday defeated Ben Newell and Glauka Carvajal Lane 11-9, 11-3.

One notable development Tuesday was the withdrawal of Jack Foster, last year's gold medalist in the men's pro singles division. No reason was immediately available for Foster dropping out.

His singles opponent for Tuesday, Tanner Tomassi, advanced through to the Round of 16. Foster also dropped out of the doubles competition with partner Eduardo Irizarry, which allowed Jason McNulty and Etienne Blaszkewycz to advance.

Megan Fudge had a strong day on the women's side. The highest-ranked female singles and doubles player in the Association of Pickleball Players, Fudge advanced in all three of her tournaments Tuesday.

Her women's pro singles match wasn't a cakewalk, but Fudge moved on with an 11-3, 8-11, 11-4 win over Sarah Mulhern. Fudge was the silver medalist in that competition last year.

In women's pro doubles, Fudge and Jillian Braverman demolished Brittni Tonnessen and Volly Johnson 11-3, 11-1. Fudge capped her day by teaming with Jack Munro to defeat Christopher Robertson and Molly Griganavicius 11-2, 11-4 in the mixed pro doubles draw.

Waters is also scheduled to compete in the women's pro doubles draw with her mother, Leigh Waters. They opened their defense of the female doubles title with an 11-0, 11-0 victory over against Barbara Fuzesi and Meray Maalouf.

--Field Level Media