Pickleball Archives - Tennis Grandstand

Tennis icons John McEnroe and Andre Agassi return for the Pickleball Slam, and will be joined by Stefanie Graf and Maria Sharapova, two of the greatest female tennis players of all time. The four legends will compete in SLAM 2 for a total prize purse of $1 million. Created and produced by Horizon Sports & Experiences (HS&E) and InsideOut Sports & Entertainment (ISE), SLAM 2 will be televised live in primetime, exclusively on ESPN on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024 at 8:30 p.m. (EST) from Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL.

Tickets for SLAM 2 go on sale today, July 18, at noon and start at $46. Tickets are available at myhrl.com and Ticketmaster. All seats are reserved. Doors open one hour before the event. Additional fees may apply.

SLAM 2 will be highlighted by an electrifying doubles match featuring the duo of McEnroe and Sharapova, who have a total of 12 Grand Slam singles titles between them, facing off against Agassi and Graf, who earned a combined 30 Grand Slam singles titles during their respective careers.

The inaugural Pickleball Slam showcased McEnroe, Agassi, Andy Roddick, and Michael Chang competing for a $1 million purse, the largest tournament purse in pickleball history. The event was broadcast live on Sunday, April 2, 2023 on ESPN before a record-breaking capacity crowd at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL. A first-of-its-kind event, the afternoon telecast was the highest-rated competition in pickleball history.

“Following the success of the inaugural Pickleball Slam, we’re excited to once again partner with and return to the Hard Rock and present SLAM 2 in primetime on ESPN, an ideal timeslot coming out of the network’s coverage of the NFL Pro Bowl and a NBA regular season game,” said David Levy, Co-CEO of HS&E. “It’s great to have both John and Andre return for SLAM 2. In pairing them up with Stefanie and Maria, two of the greatest and most competitive players in the history of tennis, there’s sure to be no shortage of incredible action and entertaining moments on the court.”

“We are incredibly excited to partner with Horizon Sports & Entertainment and InsideOut Sports again for the return of the Pickleball Slam to Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla.,” said Keith Sheldon, President of Entertainment for Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming. “The inaugural event last April was a resounding success, with Hard Rock’s desire to be entertainment first-movers paying massive dividends. This time around, we’ll build on our initial success with John McEnroe and Andre Agassi, by also adding Steffi Graf and Maria Sharapova to the lineup – arguably two of the best players of all time in racquet sports. To have all this in The Guitar Hotel live in primetime on ESPN; it’s going be a special evening of pickleball.”

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“After Andy and I took home the hardware at the first Pickleball Slam, I said I would be playing pickleball as long as I can walk – that’s how much I enjoy this game. Naturally, I am so excited to share this experience with one of the best tennis players, my wife,” said Agassi.

“When I watched the inaugural Pickleball Slam in April and stepped onto the court, I was hooked. Andre and I can’t wait to get back out on the court together to face off against Maria and John,” said Graf.

AMATEUR SLAM CHALLENGE RETURNS

The weekend will once again feature the Amateur Slam Challenge on Friday, Feb. 2 and Saturday, Feb 3, 2024. The amateur tournament will include doubles teams competing for a cash prize and the opportunity to play against the tennis legends.

For more information and to register for the Amateur Slam Challenge, visit www.thepickleballslam.com.

PLAYER INFORMATION

Andre Agassi is one of the most successful and recognized players in the history of tennis, capturing eight Grand Slam titles during his Hall of Fame career, including the career Grand Slam for winning each of the four major professional tennis tournaments – Wimbledon, the Australian Open, the French Open and the U.S. Open at least once. He also captured the gold medal at 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

In 1988, Stefanie Graf earned tennis immortality when she became the first player to win all four major singles titles and the gold medal during the Summer Olympics. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she won 22 major singles titles during her Hall of Fame career and was ranked the number one women’s singles player in the world for a record of 377 weeks.

Recognized as one of the greatest players in the history of professional tennis, John McEnroe won 17 Grand Slam titles, including four singles titles at the U.S. Open and three Wimbledon titles. He captured a remarkable 77 single titles, as well as 77 doubles titles, and is the only male player in tennis history to simultaneously hold the world number one ranking in both singles and doubles. During his illustrious Hall of Fame career, he also contributed to five Davis Cup titles for the U.S. and was a team captain.

Considered one of the best competitors of her generation, Maria Sharapova is one of only 10 women to achieve the career Grand Slam. During her stellar career, she also won a silver medal in women’s singles at the 2012 London Olympics.

ABOUT HORIZON SPORTS & EXPERIENCES (HS&E)

Horizon Sports & Experiences (HS&E) is an affiliate of Horizon Media, the largest U.S. media agency according to AdAge Data Center 2022, and provides a unique and complementary combination of sports, experiential marketing, and media capabilities. HS&E has a core focus on IP creation and monetization, strategic advisory and consulting, media rights, sponsorship, sales, and experiential, Metaverse, and Web3.0 strategy and activation. HS&E is led by co-CEOs David Levy and Chris Weil.

ABOUT INSIDEOUT SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT (ISE)

InsideOut Sports + Entertainment (ISE) is a Los Angeles based independent event producer founded in 2004 by former world No.1 and Hall of Fame tennis player Jim Courier and former SFX and Clear Channel executive Jon Venison. InsideOut owns and operates numerous proprietary events and promotions including Champions Series Tennis, the Legendary Night Series, The World Series of Beach Volleyball, Major League Pickleball and numerous customized private and public outings. To date, InsideOut has produced over 300 events in 44 states and 12 countries and is committed to a strong charity tie-in with every public event it owns or produces. Since inception, InsideOut events have contributed over $5 million to various charitable causes.

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About Hard Rock Live

Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood is South Florida’s premier entertainment venue. An investment of more than $125 million, the 7,000-person capacity indoor venue features clamshell-style seating, offering guests an intimate experience. In 2023, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood won an Academy of Country Music Award in the Casino of the Year – Theater Category. Hard Rock Live also ranked No. 5 worldwide in 2022 gross revenue for both Pollstar Magazine and Billboard in its respective categories. Designed by Scéno Plus, the 225,000-square-foot facility is equipped with state-of-the-art, in-house sound and lighting, large HD viewing screens and mobile-stage technology. With its advanced capabilities, Hard Rock Live can support some of the entertainment industry’s biggest performers, as well as nationally and internationally televised awards shows, sporting events and more. A-list entertainers to perform at Hard Rock Live include The Rolling Stones, Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Maroon 5, Billy Joel, and Dave Chappelle, among others.

About Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood is the flagship-integrated resort of Hard Rock International, owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The renowned entertainment, gaming and hospitality destination unveiled a $1.5 billion expansion in 2019, highlighting the debut of the world’s first and only Guitar Hotel. Between three hotel towers, the resort boasts 1,271 luxury guestrooms. Amenities include a 42,000 square-foot Rock Spa® & Salon; an 18-acre recreational water experience; private “Bora Bora” style cabanas; more than 20 food and beverage outlets; an expansive gaming floor with more than 2,700 slots, more than 200 table games and a 45-table poker room; 120,000 square feet of premier meeting and convention space; and a 26,000 square-foot retail promenade. Hard Rock Live, ranked No. 5 worldwide in 2022 gross revenue for both Pollstar Magazine and Billboard in its respective categories, highlights A-list entertainers and performers, sporting events and live broadcast productions in an intimate 7,000-person capacity setting. Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood is located on 87 acres of the Hollywood Seminole Reservation along State Road 7 (U.S. Highway 441). For more information, visit us online at www.seminolehardrockhollywood.com call (800) 937-0010 or follow us: Facebook: SeminoleHardRockHollywood, Twitter: @HardRockHolly, Instagram: @HardRockHolly.

The Professional Pickleball Association (PPA), the professional tour for the sport of pickleball for men and women, has announced a long-term partnership with Genius Sports, the official data, technology, and commercial partner that powers the ecosystem connecting sports, betting, and media, to drive the global growth of the sport.

This partnership will set the stage for regulated sports betting on PPA events for the first time in history. Genius Sports has been granted the exclusive rights to capture and distribute live data and video broadcasts from over 1,200 PPA matches per year with its global network of over 150 sportsbook partners.

Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, with over three million players in the United States alone. Invented in 1965 in Bainbridge, Washington as a backyard game, pickleball is a combination of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong.

Each PPA event will feature eight courts of live streaming action per day, offering unprecedented broadcast coverage of pickleball. GeniusLive, the award-winning live streaming solution from Genius Sports, will be deployed over the course of the partnership to broadcast this rapidly growing sport to new audiences worldwide.

“It is an honor to be partnering with Genius Sports in this historic production for pickleball,” said Harry Cicma, PPA Tour Executive Broadcast Producer and CEO of Harry Cicma Productions, who fostered the partnership. “The PPA Tour and Genius Sports are the two leaders in their respective industries, so it is only fitting for the organizations to join forces. The production will be innovative, and it is also exciting for the sports world to have a new professional league in front of an international audience.”

“For more than 20 years, Genius Sports has established an incredible track record of driving the growth of sports at every level, providing data-driven technology that connects fans around the world,” said Sean Conroy, Commercial Director of Genius Sports. “Our long-term partnership with the PPA will combine our leading capabilities across live streaming, production, and regulated betting to accelerate their growth and expand their global reach.”

The PPA Tour will feature 16 events across the United States in 2021, offering over $1.5 million in prize money, with expansion to at least 20 events in 2022 and over $2.2 million in prize money. Starting in 2022, the PPA Tour will host major events at the Linder Family Tennis Center in Cincinnati, the Aviva Center in Toronto, and many other venues that have traditionally hosted the biggest events in professional tennis. The PPA Tour features four levels of events: 250s, 500s, 1,000s, and Majors, as well as a full schedule of events for amateur and junior players.

“This is a significant development for the global development of pickleball and the PPA Tour,” said PPA Commissioner, Connor Pardoe. “With this agreement with Genius Sports, pickleball and PPA Tour events will be viewed by more people than ever before. This will further fuel the massive global growth of pickleball, not only from a participation standpoint but, more importantly, by establishing pickleball as a bona fide and exciting spectator sport.”

About Genius Sports

Genius Sports is the official data, technology, and commercial partner that powers the global ecosystem connecting sports, betting, and media. We are a global leader in digital sports content, technology, and integrity services. Our technology is used in over 150 countries worldwide, empowering sports to capture, manage and distribute their live data and video, driving their digital transformation and enhancing their relationships with fans.

We are the trusted partner to over 400 sports organizations globally, including many of the world’s largest leagues and federations such as the NFL, EPL, FIBA, NCAA, NASCAR, AFA, and PGA.

Genius Sports is uniquely placed through cutting-edge technology, scale, and global reach to support our partners. We are more than just a technology company, we build long-term relationships with sports at all levels, helping them to control and maximize the value of their content while providing technical expertise and round-the-clock support.

About the PPA Tour

The Professional Pickleball Association is the professional tour for the sport of pickleball, organizing events and rankings for the top male and female pickleball players in the world and awarding over $2 million in overall annual prize money. Founded in 2017 and based in Salt Lake City, Utah, the PPA Tour provides a world-class experience for all, including challenging amateur tournaments where players are invited to compete and “play where the pros play,” as well as offering unrivaled venues, food/beverages, live DJ entertainment, VIP experiences, pro player meet-and-greets, vendors, and more. For more information, go to www.ppatour.com.

Pickleball

Steffi Graf, Maria Sharapova To Join Andre Agassi, John McEnroe For Pickleball Slam 2

New Deal With PPA Allows For Pro Pickleball Betting For First Time