Andre Agassi saw his professional pickleball debut end after one day and two matches.
The Hall of Fame tennis player and partner Anna Leigh Waters, competing at the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships in Naples, Fla., fell in the mixed pro doubles Round of 16 on Wednesday night.
Trang Huynh-McClain and Len Yang beat Agassi and Waters 7-11, 11-4, 11-7 to advance to the quarterfinals.
“I’m really excited,” Huynh-McClain told the Pickleball Channel on YouTube. “Andre Agassi was my growing-up idol, so it’s really phenomenal. I did say in the beginning of the tournament, I wish I could play them in mixed, so it came true and really fun playing with Len. And he just did a phenomenal job. And I’m happy that we went out with a win.”
Earlier Wednesday, Agassi, who turned 55 on Tuesday, Waters, an 18-year-old who is the No. 1-ranked female pickleball player in the world, dispatched 13-year-old Stevie Petropouleas and 16-year-old Tristan Dussault 11-8, 9-11, 11-7.
Agassi, who won eight Grand Slam titles during his Hall of Fame tennis career, has played pickleball only in an amateur capacity before this tournament. He relied heavily on Waters.
“Coming out here with Anna Leigh, I was more nervous than a gypsy with a mortgage,” Agassi said in a post-match interview with CBS Sports Network. “This is a metaphor for life: Choose your partners well.”
Agassi’s unforced error allowed the Petropouleas-Dussault duo to level the match before heading to the third game. Agassi’s team, however, won six of the first eight points before its opponents rallied to tie the score.
Undaunted, the Agassi-Waters tandem regained their serve and ran off four consecutive points en route to winning the match.
Huynh-McClain and Yang will oppose Richard Livornese and Riley Bohnert in the quarterfinals. Livornese and Bohnert beat Brendon Long and Martina Frantova 11-9, 11-6 in their Round of 16 match.
–Field Level Media
