"I'm confident he's going to be pretty darn good": Patrick McEnroe believes brother John McEnroe has 'perfect strokes' for pickleball
ATP
With the Pickleball craze slowly taking over the United States, it comes as no surprise that former tennis pros have taken an interest in the sport.
Patrick McEnroe, younger brother of tennis legend John McEnroe, will be doing commentary for ESPN's 'Pickleball Slam', a competition that will feature four tennis legends. In singles matches, Andy Roddick duels Michael Chang and John McEnroe battles Andre Agassi; in doubles, the final match of the day, it’s McEnroe/Chang versus Roddick/Agassi.
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When asked to evaluate his brother's play, Patrick was full of praise for John, stating his brother's experience on the tennis court would aid him during Pickleball.
"I’ve seen John play, and I’m confident that he is going to be pretty darn good," said Patrick. "He’s got the perfect tennis strokes for pickleball. Nobody had better hands or better volleys in the history of tennis than John.
"Pickleball swings are small and short, like a strong volley swing, not a lot of backswing — and that is John’s natural stroke. John will also want to be as close to the kitchen as often as possible. It’s against the rules to go into the kitchen, but John will be as close as possible to the kitchen."
The doubles teams will be competing for a $1 million purse, the largest in pickleball history. Additionally, the four tennis legends will also be playing for $100,000 donation to a charity of their choice. The event is scheduled to air on Sunday, April 2 at noon ET, on ESPN.
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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