One of the competitors in the tournament, Blaine Hovenier, played tennis at SMU and UCLA before trading in his tennis racket for a pickleball paddle. On Nov. 6, I made the drive out to Farmers Branch to talk with Hovenier about the switch from tennis to pickleball, the future of professional pickleball, and what it’s like to play mixed doubles with a Wimbledon finalist.

Katie Bergelin: Is it interesting switching over from the tennis world to the pickleball world?

Blaine Hovenier: It definitely is. There’s obviously a lot of similarities in the sense of ball, racket, paddle, sport, but then there’s a lot of nuances to the sense of strategy, how you play the sport and just the feel shots. You think it looks like tennis, but it’s actually like a whole different world in some sense.

Bergelin: Are there any other similarities in the way you work out or prep for a game that is very similar to how you prepped for tennis?

Hovenier: Honestly, a lot of my training schedule on a daily basis is almost a copy and paste of college. It’s like, kind of work out, go lift in the morning or do track work, similar to what I did in college. Then I try to do at least two practices a day, kind of like in college. I would do lifting and individual practice with the coaches and then a team practice. Kind of similar [to college] where I’m lifting in the morning, drill one-on-one with someone and try to play games in the afternoon.

Bergelin: Pickleball does feel like a faster paced game, and different strategy wise. Have you had to adapt in terms of that?

Hovenier: Totally. I mean, working a lot more on fast hands. In tennis, at least myself, I liked being back in the baseline which, especially in doubles pickleball, if you’re at the baseline that’s a kiss of death. You’re never gonna win. That whole transition, getting at the net, being big. It’s like everything’s played at the net in pickleball versus at least how I play tennis, was a lot more at the baseline, so that has definitely been a bigger adjustment.

Bergelin: In training for mixed doubles, how did you meet your partner?

Hovenier: I think it’s kind of surreal to be able to play with Genie Bouchard, a Wimbledon finalist, it’s as cool as it gets. She’s awesome and I got introduced to her through pickleball, and we just became good friends.

Bergelin: If there are any young tennis players who don’t think they want to go pro for tennis, what’s it like transitioning from tennis to pickleball at the professional level?

Hovenier: At the professional level, I’d say it’s similar-ish to tennis where, financially, out of your pocket at first, play qualifying, and kind of work your way up through the ranks. Very similar to tennis where there’s kind of tiers of future tournaments, challengers, and there’s the APP starting next year. I know PPA is going to do their own challenger tour so that’s going to be that entry level for pros. You play qualifying there and kind of work your way through, and then the more ranking points you get, you get to play in PPA events which is what this is.

Bergelin: I’ve started playing pickleball a little bit and it’s just become a lot more of a popular thing with a lot more social pickleball things opening up. Do you think more tournaments like this are gonna just pop up in more places and more people are gonna frequent them?

Hovenier: I think on top of everything, people like to watch what they play. Since pickleball is kind of the fastest growing sport at a recreational level for people to play, I think it’s just gonna get bigger, the viewership level that you see at tournaments like this. I’d say my hot take is, not 2028 but probably 2032, probably it will be in the Olympics. That’s a hot take but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that.

Bergelin: I think if you can add breakdancing [to the Olympics].

Hovenier: That’s true. If you can add breakdancing, I think we got a shot.

The tournament concludes this Sunday, Nov. 10. Anyone who wants to snag a last minute ticket or keep up with match results should visit the PPA tour site to learn more.