Naomi Osaka, the Japanese tennis star recently invested in Major League Pickleball. Osaka and the contentious Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios have all been named as team owners in the pickleball league. They join the ranks of famous athlete owners like Tom Brady, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kim Clijsters. The must-have investment for 2023 seems to be a pickleball team.

Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios are the latest investors in the pickleball league

Numerous celebrity investors have poured heavy money into the pickleball league over the past few months. Naomi Osaka plans to invest in a new Miami-based Major League Pickleball team. The league’s expansion fee in other recent deals has ranged between $1 million and $3 million. The new team is said to be co-owned by Matthew Pritzker, a member of the wealthy Pritzker family, and the Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios.

Forbes claimed that with $60 million in earnings over a year, Naomi Osaka set a record for female athletes in 2021. With new sponsors like Workday, Louis Vuitton, and Asics pushing her list of sponsors past 20, her yearly off-court earnings have risen to over $50 million. Despite having a season to forget on the WTA Tour in 2022, Osaka still managed to keep her grip on the highest-paid athlete title with over $50 million in earnings, mostly from endorsements. Serena Williams, who was previously the highest-paid female athlete in the world with earnings of $36 million, was surpassed by Osaka in 2020, after earning a record-breaking $37.4 million.

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In 2021, Major League Pickleball made its debut. The MLP is the first professional league with the goal of enhancing the sport’s global appeal. Although there have been many tournaments in the past, MLP wants to advance pickleball. Pickleball is a cross between badminton, tennis, and ping-pong. The court is the size of a badminton court, and the net is about two inches shorter than a tennis net. Players hit a tennis ball-sized ball with a paddle that is bigger than a ping-pong paddle.

Conflict Erupts Between Pickleball Players and Tennis Players Over Court Usage

Former American tennis ace opposed pickleball players

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova made her stance on pickleball clear on Twitter earlier this year. She shared that she had tried pickleball before, but preferred to play tennis. The Czech-American legend commented on pickleball’s rising popularity. She tweeted that if the sport was so widespread that it could take the place of tennis, pickleball players should construct separate courts for their sport. Due to its similarity to tennis, the paddle sport has attracted a lot of interest.

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Let us know what you think about pickleball and its effect on tennis in the comments below.