Agassi says China could become pickleball’s next major frontier

Andre Agassi’s China stop on the JOOLA Titans Tour 2026 sounded less like a celebrity appearance than a market signal. The former tennis great said China could be pickleball’s next major frontier, arguing that the country already has the ingredients for rapid growth: space, land, weather and facilities.

That matters because Agassi is not speaking from the outside. As one of pickleball’s most recognizable global ambassadors, his read on the sport often tracks where commercial energy is heading. His line, “All the ingredients are right for this part of the world,” landed in a region where exhibitions, clinics and product demos are increasingly being used to turn curiosity into participation.

China’s push is already backed by more than buzz. The Chinese Tennis Association launched the China Pickleball Circuit in March 2024, and it started with around 80 events. Officials have also moved the sport into the country’s broader fitness system, with pickleball named as an official event in the second National Fitness Games scheduled for April 2026. That gives the sport a public pathway that goes beyond private clubs and weekend recreation.

The growth is showing up in the officiating pipeline, too. Chinese reporting said more than 2,300 pickleball referees were trained in 2025, nearly six times the number trained the year before. Sun Wenbing, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Tennis Association, has described the China Pickleball Tour as experiencing exponential growth since launch, a sign that the sport is no longer being treated as a novelty.

Policy support is helping to speed that shift. China’s State Council issued a 2025 policy document encouraging emerging sports and sports consumption, which places pickleball inside a broader national push to expand new fitness markets. For brands, tournament organizers and facility investors, that kind of state-backed structure can matter as much as star power.

The wider Asian backdrop suggests Agassi’s timing was deliberate. Coverage of the JOOLA Titans Tour 2026 in Kuala Lumpur described strong fan interest and underscored Malaysia’s role as one of the region’s liveliest pickleball markets. If China scales up alongside places like Malaysia, the center of gravity in Asian pickleball could move quickly, changing sponsorship patterns, tournament fields and the regional talent pipeline in one sweep.