Joey Wild first picked up a pickleball paddle four years ago at the Pan Am public courts in downtown Austin, Texas, where locals line up for hours waiting to have a hit.
Wild was studying a postgraduate degree in electrical engineering at the University of Texas at the time. He was completely “destroyed” by his opponent that first time he stepped on the court.
Joey Wild is Australia’s No.1 ranked pickleball player.Credit: Glenn Hunt
Now, Wild is Australia’s top-ranked player on the PPA – Pro Pickleball Association – Tour, with a big vision for the sport and himself.
Wild picked up the sport during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
“I kind of needed an outlet,” he said. “I was looking for something to do while I was over there, and a friend randomly invited me out one day to these public courts in Austin to play this game that I’d never heard of, which was pickleball.”
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They played a game against two strangers.
“We just got destroyed by them, but it was so fun and ever since then I’ve just kept playing,” Wild said.
“I started by playing once a week, and then I started reaching out to different groups and eventually got up to playing three times a week, then five times a week, and then when I realised I was getting good at the sport, that’s when I started practising properly and taking it pretty seriously.”