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Pickleball Slam has made an impression with its first shot. 

The inaugural event featuring tennis legends John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi and Michael Chang was more popular than 13 MLB matchups, seven , on Sunday was the opener of five tournaments.

McEnroe provided his usual energy on court but he and Chang were beaten by Agassi and Roddick in the made-for-TV exhibition, coming out 21-15, artikel judi bola 21-23, 12-10 winners – and they scooped the $1million purse in the process.

Pickleball Slam is the latest in a series of attempts to draw eyeballs to a sport taking over courts in neighborhoods all over while still finding its place on television.

‘Everyone likes it instantly.It’s pretty well-regarded by people that play it,’ Roddick said ahead of Sunday.

‘But you also don’t know if it will ever translate to TV and be a very watchable product without knowing the ins and outs and nuances that, frankly, I don’t know that people have the time to learn.’

ESPN/ABC have shown pickleball in the past and there is a deal in place with one league for some of its competitions, while there are ongoing discussions with others.

‘We’re obviously not writing big checks for pickleball at this moment,’ said Tim Bunnell, ESPN senior vice president of programming. 

‘The stage of development for the sport is: We’re all still figuring out how it translates in the media world.We know how it translates participation-wise.’

Horizon Sports & Experiences (HS&E) is producing the Pickleball Slam in tandem with InsideOut Sports and Entertainment (ISE). The idea, HS&E co-CEO David Levy explained, was for bold-faced names from one racket sport to help promote another.

‘Today, right now, nobody truly knows the top pickleball players.No one can even name maybe the top 50 pickleball players,’ Levy, the former president of Turner Networks, said. ‘(But) it’s a huge rising phenomenon in sport. And we decided to jump in, in a unique way.’

Likening the appeal of Sunday’s event to what drew fans to ‘The Match,’ a televised golf exhibition that began under his watch at Turner with Tiger Woods playing against Phil Mickelson in 2018, Levy said: ‘I’ve done this magic before.’

He said he would love to get other tennis stars such as the Williams sisters, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal to play pickleball in future editions.

‘Keep building this incredibly rising sport,’ Levy said, ‘with great brand names.’