Wimbledon’s Louis Laville has played his way up to the professional ranks in pickleball, one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and greatly enjoyed facing some of the world’s best players at the Skechers English Open.
The 28-year-old operations manager at the Roehampton Club competed in three events at the Telford International Centre reaching the quarter-finals each time in the men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Playing pickleball has allowed Laville to travel the world, with him touring places such as India, Spain, Belgium, the United States and Sweden with paddle in hand.
But it’s not too often that he gets the chance to face professionals from America, which was the case in Telford, where they not surprisingly dominated the ‘open’ competitions.
Laville, whose younger brother, Guy, also plays, said: “It’s doubled in size from last year, the atmosphere and camaraderie of the players makes it an awesome tournament and I’m having a great time.
“I don’t get to face players from around the world as much as I’d like, which is why this event is great.
“We’ve got players over from the US, players from India, Australia, New Zealand, and that’s what it’s all about.
“We face a lot of Europeans when we play tournaments, but playing guys from the rest of the world is awesome.
“There’s a different level of play, a different style of play, which makes this tournament really exciting.”
The 2024 English Open was the largest pickleball event to take place outside of North America, with a record number of almost 2,000 players from 42 countries set to participate.
Over 30,000 people around the United Kingdom now play the sport and there are over 700 places in which to play, with pickleball displaying an exponential growth in recent years.
Pickleball England, meanwhile, have reported a 41 per cent increase in member registrations since the end of 2023.
Laville said: “I have loved the growth of pickleball and what I’m liking in Europe at the moment is everyone is obviously competitive on court, but it’s still sociable.
“People are here chilling with each other and chatting – the last thing I’d one is for everyone to be sitting around in a corner with their headphones in. I’m here for the full sociability of the sport.
“The sport now is a lot bigger, faster, stronger and it’s a pro sport now. It’s gone from a hobby that everyone does to a pro sport, which is awesome.
“I think the sport sells itself. People see it and then they want to have a go as it looks quite easy, and then they realise it’s not necessarily easy but they get into it and that snowball effect then comes into play.”
Pickleball England has announced a record number of players competing at this year’s English OPEN from the 8th-14th August at the Telford International Centre in the largest pickleball event taking place outside of the USA EVER – visit pickleballengland.org
