Andy Roddick is the most recent American man to win a Grand Slam, having secured a U.S. Open title in 2003 with a win over Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets. Twenty years later, the former world No. 1 is serving up 146-mph digs at a trio of other homegrown tennis titans, as he kickstarts the hype machine for the inaugural Pickleball Slam.
“I remember watching Michael Chang win the French Open in 1989,” Roddick says in a video shared by Horizon Sports & Experiences co-CEO David Levy, who’s engineered the upcoming event. “I was there cheering Andre Agassi on when he won his first Slam in 1992 against Goran Ivanišević. I don’t quite remember … I think John McEnroe started winning slams before, uh, I was born.”
While Roddick’s testimonial has all the production values of a proof-of-life hostage video—seated in a paneled room and bathed in a sort of beige-ish light, all that’s missing from the former pro’s bulletin is a newspaper of recent vintage—it’s clear he understands how the secret to a successful troll job is to ridicule one’s elders. (This is always the move, even if you have to physically travel to a rest home to find sufficiently aged targets.)
“The point of these stories is two-fold,” Roddick continues. “One, it’s always a great occasion when I have an excuse to spend time with my idols, and two, I am sooooo much younger than the rest of ’em. So my idol Andre Agassi and I are going to kick Chang and McEnroe’s butt at the Pickleball Slam and I cannot wait! Book it.”
While speaking to Levy earlier this week, a quick glance at the Internet suddenly takes much of the fun out of Roddick’s age-baiting. If the crowd-sourced online encyclopedia is anything to go by, McEnroe, who now looks more or less exactly like the Cold Miser from The Year Without a Santa Claus, is only 10 years older than me. Yipes. Then again, Levy graduated from Syracuse in 1980, so I win that round.
Levy and I have known each other since before Roddick lifted the Tiffany jug out in Queens, so there’s always a certain amount of “remember-when” in play whenever we connect. As it happens, that sort of thing is one of the dynamos that powers the Pickleball Slam concept, which couples the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. with the timeless allure of nostalgia. Watching the pro athletes you followed when you yourself were a lot younger quite often delivers a sustained blast of serotonin, especially if the old jocks are trying their hand at a new sport. Part of the appeal of seeing guys like McEnroe and Agassi play pickleball lies in the affirmation that they can still punt all sorts of rump on a tennis court, while the sepia-toned element of reminiscence provides a nice respite from the travails of the here and now. (Unless you were a Victorian-era chimney sweep, odds are you had it a lot better as a spry youth.)
The predecessor to Levy’s brainchild is the Match, the golf exhibition/pay-per-view event he launched at Turner Sports back in 2018. This time around, he’s working as a free agent of sorts—Levy and Momentum Worldwide chairman Chris Weil launched the HS&E agency last fall—but it didn’t take long for a TV partner to swoop in on the pickleball package. ESPN’s Jimmy Pitaro and Burke Magnus opted to carry the event shortly after Levy first pitched the concept; the special will air on the flagship network April 2 at 12 p.m. ET, leading directly into the NCAA DI women’s hoops final.
The inaugural event will be held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., with the hospitality chain having signed on for a total of five individual tournaments. Roddick, et al., will compete in both singles and doubles competition, with a $1 million purse on the line. This marks the most lucrative payout in the history of the sport, which is growing faster than the nerve-tonic-addled animated version of Ken Griffey Jr. during his 1992 appearance on The Simpsons. Per USA Pickleball, some 5 million Americans play the sport, which has expanded to more than 10,000 facilities nationwide.
While the Slam was only announced this week, Levy has a good deal of news to add ahead of the official rollout. For one thing, he’s going to sweeten the purse a little by offering each player $25,000 to bet throughout the competition. (Levy was hoping that the original Tiger vs. Phil best-hole match would inaugurate a new era of televised sports wagering, but the PGA Tour effectively nixed that idea.) The side bets and resulting escalation in trash talk should make the competition even more engaging, and as a bonus, the money wagered will be funneled to a charity.
Levy also says he’s “open for business” for further partnerships to complement the Hard Rock deal. “We are now looking for a title sponsor and three presenting sponsors in addition to the Hard Rock, who came in right at the beginning,” Levy said. “The early feedback has been strong, even though we’ve only been out on the street with this a few days.”
In owning the IP outright and devising an all-new live sports format, Levy is leveraging a handful of Big Picture-type entrepreneurial gambits that have been transforming media in the age of rapidly shrinking TV usage. If all goes well in April, the next iteration of the Slam could very well include a clutch of less antediluvian participants, such as Roger Federer or the Williams sisters. Serena and Venus obviously would be a great fit if ESPN chooses to continue with the Slam during the 2024 women’s hoops championship. (Bristol has an option to pick up additional events.)
For Levy, one of the big takeaways from the Slam is that HS&E have put themselves in a position where long-time pickleball enthusiasts and curiosity seekers of all stripes will see the best of the best in action. “This isn’t Dancing with the Stars,” he cracks, in a veiled nod to CBS’s recent primetime special Pickled, a benefit which featured decidedly non-athletic funny people such as Stephen Colbert, Luis Guzmán, Paul Scheer and Tig Notaro. The Nov. 17 broadcast was one of the most-watched in its time slot, averaging 2.24 million viewers.
“It’s the wild, wild west. We’ve got some of the biggest names competing in the hottest new sport, and we’re just getting started,” Levy said. “This is nothing short of a cultural phenomenon, and I’m telling you right now, this is the next generation of destination programming.”
I may not have learned much in my [mumblemumble] years, but I know enough not to bet against David Levy—even if he is fronting the 25K buy-in.