British professional James Chaudry has seen pickleball explode in popularity since he took up the sport, with his experience in working for a sports agency helping him to prepare to take on the world’s best.

The 33-year-old from Southampton, who competed in junior Wimbledon tournaments while he played tennis, works for Elevate Sports and is used to dealing with sports that operate in high-level environments.

Chaudry admits he had preconceptions about pickleball when he first heard of the sport while living in Los Angeles in 2019, feeling he would not get much enjoyment hitting a plastic ball over a net.

It was only after he started working with Pickleball England while they were establishing themselves as a governing body that he felt compelled to try it and immediately he was hooked.

Speaking at the Skechers English Open, Chaudry said: “I was playing with over-50s, young kids and people of all backgrounds immediately and saw how inclusive it was as a sport.

“When it comes to growing the sport, there are a lot of best practices you can take from different sports, like the NFL, the Premier League, from individual clubs, teams and entertainment.

“First you understand the unique valuable proposition that pickleball brings and then you bring some outside expertise, showing you what the NFL do to encourage youngsters into the sport while still being an entertaining product.

“It’s about bringing little bits and bobs into that and then understanding how you could commercialise them and invest that back into the sport. That’s really what I brought to Pickleball England.”

With Chaudry’s help, the English Open has expanded to the point where the 2024 edition at Telford International Centre was the largest pickleball event to take place outside of North America, with a record number of almost 2,000 players from 42 countries participating.

Over 30,000 people around the United Kingdom now play the sport and there are over 700 places in which to play, with pickleball displaying an exponential growth in recent years.

Chaudry, who has played in tournaments in the United States, competed in three events, reaching the quarter-finals in the men’s singles and doubles, and the last 16 of the mixed doubles.

Chaudry said: “It’s amazing to see how far it has come. When I joined the Pickleball England setup in 2021, I think we had maybe 600 members and now we’re at 8,000 members with about 30,000 people playing.

“The growth has been exponential, there’s been a lot of hard work that’s gone on behind the scenes that people don’t realise, but we’re really starting to see the momentum.

“Events like this are a showcase of just how much the sport over here has grown.”

Pickleball England has announced a record number of players competing at this year’s English OPEN from the 8th-14th August at the Telford International Centre in the largest pickleball event taking place outside of the USA EVER – visit pickleballengland.org