Beating tennis legend Andre Agassi kick-started Len Yang’s pickleball career

SINGAPORE – Len Yang was just another name in the draw when he walked onto the court to face tennis legend Andre Agassi and pickleball world No. 1 Anna Leigh Waters in the mixed pro doubles event at the 2025 US Open Pickleball Championships.

But it turned out to be a life-changing moment in Yang’s sporting career.

Rallying from 1-9 down in the first game, he and partner Trang Huynh-McClain went on to beat the crowd favourites 7-11, 11-4, 11-7 to reach the quarter-finals in Naples, Florida on April 30, 2025.

American Yang told The Straits Times on July 22 about claiming the biggest scalp of their career: “It was super surreal. The US Open was basically my breakout tournament.

“I won the men’s pro doubles title (with Jack Munro) and I beat Andre and Anna Leigh. (It’s hard to say), which one was bigger, but I remember going to that match, telling myself, ‘Doesn’t matter who it is, go into it just like any other match’.

“But actually stepping into that centre court was just super surreal. There were so many people – everyone was cheering for them, and obviously Andre Agassi is a legend in tennis and Anna Leigh Waters has an impressive resume herself.”

The win catapulted Yang into the limelight, although he and McClain lost in the quarter-finals.

The 22-year-old added: “My phone was blowing up. I think I had probably 300 direct messages right after the match, and I know I definitely cost the tournament a lot of money because they definitely wanted Andre and Anna Leigh to go all the way… But yeah, a super surreal moment, kind of jump-started my career.”

He went on to win the men’s double title at the Expo Bridge Cup China and on the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Tour Asia’s Hong Kong Open with Thomas Yu that year.

This year, he took the mixed doubles title at the PPA Asia 500 Beijing Open and men’s doubles gold at the PPA Asia 500 Kuala Lumpur Open.

The men’s doubles world No. 28 player was speaking at a “Meet the Pros” session at The Sports Arina @ Expo ahead of the July 23-26 PPA Asia 500 Leapmotor Singapore Open.

He will be partnering Collin Johns, with whom he won the title in Kuala Lumpur.

Also in the fray are Hong Kong star Jack Wong, China’s top-seeded Long Yufei and Singaporeans Charles Yong and Ryan Ng.

The tournament, which is the highest-tier pickleball event to be held in Singapore, will see amateurs and professionals compete for up to US$79,000 (S$102,000) in prize money.

Yang, who is from New York, picked up pickleball in 2023 after reconnecting with friends working at sports equipment company Joola, which entered the pickleball equipment market.

A former table tennis player in his youth, he had stopped playing the sport in 2018 and dabbled in varsity basketball in high school and was in the US national team for dragon boat before getting hooked on pickleball.

Yang said: “There was a club near my school and I went to play with friends, had fun, then went another day, got addicted, and here I am.”

Such is his influence that his father, who works as an electrician on the graveyard shift, would play pickleball with his mum after his shift and Yang feels that that had made their relationship stronger.

“I think my parents probably play more than me at this point,” said Yang with a laugh.

“It is very difficult… But when I’m back in New York, I try to go to the park and kind of fool around with them.”

While pickleball first gained traction in the US, Yang had noticed the phenomenal growth in popularity of the sport in Asia and South-east Asia.

“Asia started a couple years after the US, but they are catching up really quick,” added Yang, noting that Vietnam and Malaysia “may have more courts than the US”.

On his first visit to Singapore, Yang was impressed by the facilities at The Sports Arina @ Expo.

“This venue is absolutely beautiful,” he said. “And through my interactions with a lot of Singaporeans, I think they’ll figure out a way to build infrastructure to have a very successful pickleball programme here.”

Kimberly Koh, managing director of United Pickleball Association (UPA) Asia, the parent company of PPA Tour Asia, shared his sentiments.

The Singaporean said: “The growth is definitely the most significant in the last two to three years. If we were to compare it directly to the US, we are probably where they were three years ago. But the growth rate has just been super accelerated.”

When asked about bringing higher level events here, she added: “We are working with our partners to try and see how we can make this happen in the short- to medium-term future.

“With support from all the partners that we’ve seen this year, we feel that it’s definitely doable for us to upgrade the event and do a bigger one going forward.”