TEAM GB heroine Gail Emms embarks on a new sporting challenge this weekend – and she is hoping that one day it will lead her to Andre Agassi.
Emms – winner of Olympic silver in badminton at the Athens 2004 Games – is following Canada’s former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard into the emerging sport of pickleball.
The Milton Keynes star, a mum of two boys, will take part in the mixed doubles competition, in the over-35s category, on Sunday at the English Open in Telford.
More than 2,300 players are involved in the five-day event, organised by Pickleball England, making this the largest Pickleball tournament outside of the United States.
In England, there are over 800 venues and more than 50,000 people play the sport.
Bouchard, 31, quit tennis last week, following her exit from the National Bank Open in her hometown of Montreal, and will now pursue a different type of racquet sport.
Awareness globally has improved since eight-time tennis champion Agassi, 55, picked up a pickleball bat and competed professionally at the US Open Championships in April in Florida.
Emms first witnessed the sport at her local David Lloyd leisure centre and her curiosity took over – once she had a go herself, she was hooked.
The transition has been “exhilarating” and with “no prior singles training” she finished fourth in the 4.0 category at the English National Pickleball Championships in May.
Emma, 48, told SunSport: “This is the closest sport I’ve found to badminton. For one, it’s the size of a badminton court, the same dimensions.
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“Tennis has a bigger court. Padel has a cage. In pickleball, it’s a lighter bat, lighter ball.
“I didn’t want to play Masters badminton or anything like that. I couldn’t be arsed. There was nothing appealing about it.
“I put badminton in the cupboard and was at peace with it. But then pickleball came along and I’m obsessed with it now. It suits me. This sport is addictive.
“I’m diving around the court. It’s so funny. I’m seriously just flinging myself everywhere.
“I’ve got a new mixed doubles partner. We talk tactics and send each other videos. It’s hilarious.
“You think you’re at peace with professional sport. You have parked it. But then you can’t change your personality. It’s like finding a new flame.
“Victoria Pendleton, a cyclist, became a jockey, Chris Hoy went into motorracing.
“I’m loving life. I play tournaments and I’m so nervous. I think: ‘Oh my god. What am I doing to myself?’
It’s literally the dream: If I’m on court playing Andre Agassi in pickleball, I might retire then and there!
Gail Emms
“Fifty is the golden age. I’ve got two years and then I can go into the 50-plus age group.
“If I’m going to keep doing it, I want to make sure I’m fit, strong and able to play against the pros.
“I want to play Andre Agassi basically – that’s the aim. He does play over-50s.
“That’s literally the dream. If I’m on court playing Andre Agassi in pickleball, I might retire then and there!
“Him and Steffi (Graf) have just transitioned and he played at the US Open in mixed doubles.
“Eugenie Bouchard has gone to pickleball. Her brand wants to sponsor me. I haven’t spoken to her directly, it was through an agent in the US.
“Pickleball has got a lot of tennis players going there. I’ve seen it take off in South Korea and China as well. Here we go again!”
Twenty-one summers ago, Emms reached the final of the Olympics mixed doubles with Englishman Nathan Robertson but were denied gold in the Greek capital by Chinese duo Zhang Jun and Gao Ling.
She is in the late stages of writing an autobiography and is keen to push awareness at government level of the England women’s team that competed at the unofficially 1971 World Cup finals in Mexico.
That side included her mum Janice Emms, who quit her job as a bank clerk in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, to go on the trip to Central America that was not recognised by the FA.
