FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Australian Open - First Round - Melbourne, Australia, January 14, 2019. A spectator poses in front of the Australian Open logo. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
(Reuters) - The Australian Open will embrace one of the fastest growing sports in the world when it hosts the inaugural AO Pickleball Slam on the final weekend of next month's tennis major with $100,000 in prize money.
Invented in 1965 by a group of American friends, pickleball is a fast-paced paddle sport similar to tennis and badminton played on smaller courts using a perforated plastic ball, and interest has skyrocketed in recent years.
Melbourne Park's court three will transform into pickleball central from Jan. 24-26 next year, as an international field of players compete for honours.
"Pickleball is a sport for everyone, and its rapid growth globally highlights its unique ability to connect people of all ages and backgrounds," said Tennis Australia's chief tennis officer Tom Larner.
"By bringing pickleball to the AO, we're embracing the future of racket sports and providing an incredible experience for players and fans alike."
Pickleball was also part of the Miami Open in March and was demonstrated at the French Open Grand Slam in June.
But some fans view the convergence of the two at mainstream tournaments as efforts by tennis to ensure advertising funds are not diverted away from it to pickleball.
That has not stopped pickleball from pushing ahead with its own expansion plans.
The Professional Pickleball Association based in the United States announced in July that it would hold ranking tournaments outside the country for the first time next year, with stops in Australia, India, Canada, Asia and Europe.
Its parent body the United Pickleball Association had said then that pickleball was the fastest growing sport in the U.S. with a 52% increase in participants from 2022-2023.
Major League Pickleball, a professional league where NBA great LeBron James is part of a team's ownership group, believes the sport can reach 40 million players by 2030.
The sport has also attracted the attention of former athletes and celebrities like Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Tom Brady, Taylor Swift and George Clooney.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
