Kyrgios deepens pickleball role with Picklr, Vulcan partnerships in Asia

The Picklr announced on March 10, 2026, that Kyrgios had joined as an equity partner and athlete ambassador. The company described itself as North America’s fastest-growing indoor pickleball brand, and the move gives it instant star power as it pushes deeper into a market where recognition matters as much as court supply. Kyrgios already has ownership ties to Vulcan and Stack Athletics, which makes his role look less like a simple sponsorship and more like a wider investment in the sport’s commercial structure.

That matters in Asia, where pickleball is moving from curiosity to scale. UPA Asia and YouGov Singapore reported in 2025 that about 1.9 billion people across 12 Asian territories had heard of pickleball, about 812 million had tried it at least once, and about 282 million played at least monthly. The same research found 62 percent of respondents learned about the sport in the last two years, a reminder that awareness is still growing fast rather than plateauing.

Kyrgios fits that moment because he brings something most equipment launches do not: tennis credibility, brand recognition and a style that translates cleanly to pickleball’s power game. Vulcan’s CHPT01 paddle line was built as a tour-level collection focused on elite performance, modern design and a power-to-control balance, and the company said the CHPT01 model was developed with Kyrgios. The paddle is positioned as an elongated, light and power-oriented model, tailored to an aggressive player who has spent years hitting with a lighter tennis racquet. In business terms, that is more than endorsement. It is product design attached to an athlete whose identity already carries global reach.

For Asia’s pickleball economy, the timing is especially sharp. Industry reporting said awareness in Malaysia jumped 132 percent in 2024 versus 2023, while Vietnam rose 152 percent. PPA Tour Asia and MLP Asia have already announced their entry into the region, targeting China, Vietnam, Japan and Singapore, with an inaugural 2025 schedule that included Malaysia in July, Hong Kong and Japan in August, and a China Slam later in the season. The Picklr also said in May 2025 that it planned 20 facilities in Japan over five years, beginning in the Tokyo metropolitan area.