The game of Pickleball is certainly a feel-good story right now, in a nation that badly needs one. America’s fastest growing sport isn’t just “having a moment,” right now. It has truly taken off ever since the covid-19 pandemic. One leading feel good story, in this sport of happiness, is husband-and-wife professional pickleball duo Ryler DeHeart and Megan Fudge.
The couple met at the University of Illinois, where they both played tennis competitively. They returned to the state where they first met, this time in suburban Highland Park, for the APP 2023 Chicago Open on Labor Day weekend.
“We met on the U of I tennis courts at Atkins Tennis Center,” Fudge told me this week, in an exclusive interview conducted on the APP practice court.
“Ryler graduated ’06, I started ’06, so we missed each other in school, but he came back to Champaign, which was his home base when playing pro tennis, and the rest is history.”
Illini men’s tennis is national power program with a rich history.
Craig Tiley, CEO of Tennis Australia, holds the school record for all-time coaching wins. The South African won one national title and nine Big Ten titles while leading the Illini, and he was later considered a very strong candidate to assume the University of Illinois Athletic Director position, when it last opened up in 2016.
Tiley turned it down.
Pickleball APP Chicago Open Broadcast Info
Saturday, 9/2 | 12 pm CT โ 6 pm ET | ESPN+
Sunday, 9/3 | 10 am CT โ 5 pm ET | ESPN+
Tuesday, 9/5 | 8 pm CT โ 9 pm CT | ESPN2
“2002 is when Ryler and Craig won the national title,” Fudge continued.
“He was on the team that year, and there’s actually a 20-year celebration this weekend. Craig Tiley is flying in to celebrate the reunion.
“Ryler is actually in a lot of trouble for playing pickleball this weekend, but we’re going to take the kids on Sunday to Champaign and show them the banner at Atkins, and we bleed orange and blue.”
The couple enjoys watching Illinois Fighting Illini athletics, and they were very plugged in to the U of I community in Tampa, FL when they resided there.
This year has been huge for that specific alumni group, as Illini football made the Reliaquest Bowl, staged at the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was the first New Year’s Day bowl game in a decade-and-a-half for the Illini.
Pickleball APP Chicago Open Venue Info
Danny Cunniff Park, 2700 Trail Way
Highland Park, Illinois 60035
Fudge and DeHeart are traveling to all their matches on the APP Tour this season in a RV. The recreational vehicle is both transportation and accommodation for the couple, as well as their children, Lily and J.R. (who are also competing the APP, in the 3.0 division).
Also joining them are their two pet dogs: Max, a pug/beagle mix and Lexi, a rescue lab. Their RV is emblazoned with a Fat Tire logo, as the New Belgium brewer is one of the tour’s main sponsors.
And yes, Vlasic, the pickle maker, is literally a pickleball sponsor too. But perhaps the most appropriate sponsor is the AARP (American Association of Retired People), as this is a sport that actor/comedian Jeff Daniels famously called “half court basketball for elderly people.”
That stereotype is indeed true- retired people really do love this game. And why not? As it’s accessible to absolutely everyone.
Pickleball APP Chicago Open Tickets
$15. Walk-up tickets for single-day sessions available at the venue, doors open at 8 am CT.
“We have had people in our camps that have never done a sport in their lives, in their 30s and 40s, and they’re like ‘my parents never let me play a sport’, so we’re like here- catch this ball, and they caught it,” said Fudge.
“Now with the paddle- can you tap it back? and it’s like ok, now you play a game…it is really easy to learn, but hard to master, so there it becomes this phenomenon, ‘I really want to get this, I really want to master this.’
“It’s like this chess game on the court, while at the same time, it’s very social and playful, I feel like anybody can play and try to get the hang of it.”
Megan Fudge is right, as she inadvertently pointed out the other major stereotype about this game- pretty much everybody is nice to each other on the court.
It’s very much a game that fosters community building, as opponents often go out for drinks and food after competing against each other.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager ofย The Sports Bank.ย Heโs also theย author of โTransatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,โ andย โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.โ
Heโs written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and theย Chicago Tribune.ย He regularly appears onย NTD Newsย andย WGN News Now.ย Follow the websiteย onย Twitterย andย Instagram.
