Andre Agassi will play at the US Open Pickleball Championships next week

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — Andre Agassi collected two of his eight Grand Slam tennis titles at the U.S. Open and now he’ll be competing at a different racket event with that name.

Agassi, who retired from professional tennis in 2006 after playing his last match at Flushing Meadows, will line up alongside teenager Anna Leigh Waters in the mixed pro division at the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships next week in Naples, Florida.

Agassi, who turns 55 next week, has participated in made-for-TV pickleball exhibitions with other former tennis players and can be seen pitching pickleball equipment via social media. This will be his first professional pickleball appearance.

He won the tennis U.S. Open in 1994 and 1999, completed a career Grand Slam by winning at least one championship at each of that sport’s majors and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2011.

It was announced earlier this month that Agassi will be a studio analyst for TNT Sports during the semifinals and finals at the French Open this year.

Pickleball is a mix of tennis and ping pong that uses paddles and a wiffleball. It quickly rose from nearly nothing to more than 13 million players in the United States in just a few years.

___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis