Hate pickleball all you want, but any reasonable sports fan will recognize the sheer absurdity of what we're witnessing
Just look at this list...ALW is 18 years old:
- Pro at age 12
- Consensus GOAT by 16
- Multi-millionaire earning 7 figures
- 150+ PPA gold medals
- 30 Triple Crowns
- Major League Pickleball #1 Overall Pick
- Major League Pickleball MVP
- Major League Pickleball Champion
- US Open Champion (multiple)
- Ranked #1 across all categories
- Forbes 30 under 30
- Major sponsorships like Fila and Carvana
Anna Leigh Waters just wins, and she still has 75-80% of her career ahead of her
Last week her face was all over Times Square alongside the description: "The Most Dominant Athlete in the World"
Can anyone make an argument against?
I just woke up from a nap after the whirlwind that was the Pickleball World Cup and I feel like I’m still dreaming.
Many months ago Hercilio and Miranda Cabieses reached out to us to be part of with their dream, the Pickleball World Cup, and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. All I knew was that we were flying to Lima, Peru in October and hopefully there’d be some great world pickleball to check out. There was that and so much more.
Over the past few years we’ve attended some amazing pickleball events. A few epic US Opens, dozens of incredible PPA tournaments, nearly every Major League Pickleball event, and so many others. Each one of them special for their own reasons yet this past weekend was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
The Pickleball World Cup was 25+ countries who traveled from all over the world to stay on the same campus that hosted the 2019 Pan-Am games, break bread together, and compete against each other. Humans forming real bonds with other humans that they probably would have never had the chance to meet. The language barrier was real but the connections were even realer.
On my flight home I tried to put my finger on why this event felt so different. Aside from the melting pot of cultures, the thing that stuck out to me most was the sheer passion you felt from the players and teams. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no lack of fire and passion at the aforementioned events, but at the Pickleball World Cup players are fighting for their homeland. You felt it in their energy, their effort, the celebrations, and the heart break. And while the teams battled tooth and nail, the amount of love and respect shown on and off the court is exactly what the world needs more of right now.
Congrats to Hercilio and Miranda for turning their dream into reality. What you’ve created is truly beautiful and I believe will pave the way for your ultimate goal, getting pickleball into the Olympics.
We hope that you enjoyed the Pickleball World Cup takeover on The Kitchen the past many days and we invite you to join us next year for the event. We promise you won’t be disappointed.
And oh yeah, long live Pickleball! 🚀🌎🫶🏼
Beatriz Haddad Maia d. Alexandrova 5-7 6-4 7-5
Whenever Bia plays, you hear the cheers from miles away
People fly to Paris just to see her
Kids sit in front of the TV all day in Brazil bc she makes them smile
✅1st Grand Slam R4
She’s not just an athlete
Bia is hope
🇧🇷❤️🇧🇷