From Serena Williams to James Blake: What various tennis personalities have said about Pickleball

While Pickleball resembles tennis in certain ways, it is quite different from it. The sport's popularity has been on the rise recently, with Major League Pickleball being founded in 2021.

Basketball stars LeBron James, Draymond Green and Kevin Love are part of a group that will buy a team in the league soon. Former Wimbledon junior champion Noah Rubin recently retired from tennis to pursue pickleball.

The sport's rising popularity can help it challenge tennis and several tennis stars, past and present, have spoken about their admiration for it.

Serena Williams said on the Ellen DeGeneres Show a few months back that she loved the sport and was glad that it was getting more and more popular. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion also jokingly stated that she could make it her second career.

"I love pickleball. Isn’t it fun? And I love that it’s everywhere now. It could be a second career of mine," she said.

Former ATP World No. 4 James Blake is more closely associated with pickleball than any other tennis player. The 42-year-old is the co-owner of Major League Pickleball team The Lions with Marc Lasry, who is also the co-owner of Milwaukee Bucks.

“I happened to be at his house, and as I was thinking about it, I said, ‘Hey, Marc, would you like to be involved as well?’ He said 'Sure, sounds great'. I couldn’t ask for a better business partner," Blake was quoted as saying by the MLP's official website.

Former World No. 1 Andy Murray's mother Judy is an ambassador for Pickleball Scotland and recently warned tennis of the sport's popularity.

"Watch out tennis. Pickleball is coming for you……" she wrote on Twitter.

Watch out tennis. Pickleball is coming for you…… twitter.com/thekitchenpb/s…

Murray previously spoke about the sport's benefits and how it could be popular in Scotland.

"Pickleball is a wonderfully addictive game that’s both fun and doable for all ages and stages," she said. "It’s the perfect way into and out of racket sports and it has massive potential reach in Scotland because it’s played on badminton-sized courts and every school and sports centre in the country has those."

John Isner will take part in charity pickleball match

ATP World No. 45 John Isner will take part in a charity pickleball doubles match in Dallas with basketball legend Dirk Nowitzki as his partner. The duo will take on golfers Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler.

The match will take place during the Professional Pickleball Association’s PPA Tour Round Up.