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In 2019, Pablo Tellez was living in Naples, Florida, and still loving tennis. It is the sport he has always played, 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 fastest-growing sport.
Pickleball in the United States saw a 51.8% increase in players from 2022 to 2023, and it has a growth rate of 223.5% since 2020.
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(Pickleball's rise in popularity has exceeded more than 200% since 2020.)
As the sport has grown, Major League Pickleball (MLP) became a league for some of the best players in the world, like Tellez, who stars for the MLP's Brooklyn Aces.
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Tellez explained why pickleball has become a sport many millions of Americans are starting to pick up.
"I think it’s several things," Tellez, who partnered with LOTTO, which also co-owns the Aces, began. "First of all, it’s super fun. It’s just 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 close to your opponent, very close to your partner at all times. So, I think if you don’t get that social aspect, you’re not going to have fun. But everybody’s looking for it. And it’s even turned into people using pickleball for dating, pickleball as a place for finding friends and just hanging out.
WHAT IS PICKLEBALL? HOW TO PLAY, WHAT YOU NEED AND HOW TO FIND A COURT NEAR YOU
"Then, it’s very easy to pick up as a sport. When you play tennis or you play soccer, it’s going to take you awhile to be good and to actually enjoy the sport and to understand it. When you play pickleball for your first time, you’re going to be rallying back and forth. You may not be great 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 said a $100,000 prize would be involved. As a tennis player, he thought the sport was going to be pretty easy.
However, Tellez was sadly mistaken when he saw just how good professionals could be.
"I signed up for it and I think I went 0-8. I played singles, I lost. I played mixed doubles, I lost. Then, after that, I was like, ‘Oh, this is a little harder than I thought’ and I was hooked."
Tellez started playing every day, and two years ago, he turned pro.
Ben Johns, the world's top-ranked pickleball player, hits a return shot on Friday March 24, 2023 during the Major League Pickleball Tournament at Pictona in Holly Hill, Florida. (IMAGN)
"I don’t like losing, and I thought I was better than I actually was," he said after that initial tournament. "But it helped me because it pushed me to try to take the sport more serious and to play regularly. I think that was the key for me – I just wanted to get better."
Now, Tellez plays for the Aces, a team that is not just owned by LOTTO, but NBA star Kevin Durant, rapper Drake and actor Michael B. Jordan. Additionally, the likes of LeBron James, Tom Brady, Gary Vaynerchuk and many others have invested in MLP as well.
Why?
"When I talked to some of them, I was in New York and I actually was able to talk to Gary Vee and some of the other owners who are there," Tellez said about the MLP's schedule taking them to the Big Apple last month. "They just realized how the sport is booming and they play it. They don’t see any reason why it’s not going to grow. Then, you have all the pros that are putting the effort in, in terms of branding and marketing and taking the sport to the next level. Then, you start seeing it on TV, and it should only keep growing because everybody loves it, to be honest."
Tellez has enjoyed working with LOTTO as they break into the pickleball space. He called it a "dream come true" to join the brand, considering he was very familiar with their soccer and tennis products as a kid.
However, no matter if it is a brand, a celebrity or someone simply walking by a court, pickleball has enthralled all who have come in contact with it, and Tellez promises that anyone will as well if they give it a try.
Major League Pickleball player Pablo Tellez picked up the game in 2019. (LOTTO)
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"I’ll promise you: If you just try it once, you’ll know exactly where everybody plays," he said. "It’s just fun, it’s engaging, it’s social, it’s a workout, and it has all those aspects that everybody’s looking 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 workout, some people want to meet other people, and pickleball has it all."
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