One of pickleball’s young phenomenons is heading to the English OPEN this weekend.
21-year-old Jack Munro is currently a senior at the University of Texas at Austin pursuing an economics degree – and is one of the sport’s hottest pro properties. He won silver in the men’s doubles (with Richard Livornese) and gold in the mixed doubles (with Megan Fudge) at last year’s Open – and is hoping for more of the same this time round.
“I’m just trying to do my best,” he tells Pickleball 52. “They do such a good job running it. I love the atmosphere, bringing together this unique environment of people from every single continent and many different countries. You’re representing not only a city or yourself, but literally your country, and I really like that feeling. That’s new and that’s something that we need in pickleball.”
Jack began playing pickleball at the tender age of ten after getting injured playing baseball, and since then it’s been an incredible rise. He even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the youngest player to be ranked in the Top 50 – all before his 13th birthday.
During high school, he concentrated on basketball – and returned to pickleball aged 18, turning professional the year after – something that hadn’t even been possible when he started playing as a child.
“When I went to nationals and the US Open and the bigger tournaments back then, there was definitely some pressure [to do well] because it’s nationals, you know? But the local tournaments, [I was] having fun because no pros were making money, there was no such thing as a tour: it was just people setting up pickleball tournaments in their city.”
Pickleball can sometimes be considered a sport for older people, but Jack is proof positive that younger people love it too – indeed, he founded the pickleball team at his college, and says that the social aspect of the game is something that appeals to them.
“The younger people eat it up: you just need to make it fun for them,” he says.
“I honestly love just talking to anybody, learning about their experience, their background, how they got into pickleball – why they love it, what they do for the sport. I really enjoy having those conversations. Pickleball is such a good activity for younger people because it’s so social and so easy.
“Pickleball is one of the easiest sports ever to pick up, whether you’re uncoordinated, you’ve never played a racquet sport, whatever, go out and have rallies and have fun with people. I see this happen all the time, and that’s what makes pickleball so unique.”
