Pickleball star to compete at APP Chicago Open in Highland Park
CHICAGO (CBS) – Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and some of the best players in the country will descend on Highland Park this weekend for the Association of Pickleball Professional Tour's Chicago Open.
CBS 2's Matt Zahn caught up with Zane Navratil, the top-ranked singles player, who's enjoying his newfound celebrity status.
ZAHN: How much are you looking forward to the big event here in Chicago?
NAVRATIL: Yeah, certainly can't wait. It's nice to have an event that's close to home for me, the Chicago Open. I'm from Milwaukee, so don't hold it against me.
ZAHN: How did you get to this point where you are one of the best in the world at pickleball?
NAVRATIL: Yeah, so a lot of the professional pickleball players at this point have very non-traditional paths to where they're at. So I played college tennis at (the University of) Wisconsin Whitewater and I got a job as an auditor. I quit my job in July of 2020 because the APP Tour was basically up and coming and getting more and more prize money, making it possible for me to do this as my career.
ZAHN: What is it like to see this sport that you love grow so much?
NAVRATIL: Everyday I kind of knock on wood that I found the sport and basically the perfect time. It's kind of cool to be almost famous in a certain setting. Obviously the Chicago Cubs are famous wherever they go, but if I'm famous at a pickleball tournament, I'm famous at the pickleball tournament, and never would have thought that that would be the case.
ZAHN: So how do you handle that fame?
NAVRATIL: It's actually growing. I'm starting to get noticed in airports and with just random people. Oh man, it pisses my fiancé off. [laughs] She's like, 'You're a pickleball player. Are you kidding me?
ZAHN: What is it that you love about pickleball?
NAVRATIL: I like the fact that you can go to a community and get in a game regardless of your skill level. You can show up to Danny Cunniff Park in Highland Park, when there's not the APP Tournament going on, but you can show up there and pretty much get in the game regardless of whether you're a beginner player or a pretty solid player.
ZAHN: Is this something you see yourself doing for a while now?
NAVRATIL: I am loving pickleball. I love all the different elements of it. Right now, I'm a player, but I see myself transitioning to the business side of things when I'm done as a player. I run the APP Academy, which is pickleball clinics for the general public that are tacked on to a lot of these tournaments. It's awesome.
You can watch Navratil and the other players in Highland Park over Labor Day weekend.
This marks the fourth year the tour has made a stop in the Chicago area. A Libertyville native is actually the founder of this tour.
Just how fast is the sport growing? USA Pickleball had over 53,000 members at the end of last year. That was more than a 40% jump year over year.