Tina Pisnik

If you want to talk about elite athletic pedigree, Tina Pisnik might take the cake. Before she ever stepped on a pickleball court, she was a top-30 WTA tennis player who competed in all four Grand Slams, reaching the third round at the French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open. Born in Maribor, Slovenia in 1981, she turned pro in tennis in 1999 and climbed to a career-high world ranking of #29, winning a WTA singles title and two WTA doubles titles while earning over $930,000 in prize money. Her dad Boris was a Slovenian national team soccer player and traveled with her on the tennis tour. She retired from tennis in 2005 and moved to the United States in 2015, where she worked as a High Performance director at a tennis club in Illinois before settling in Bradenton, Florida.

Now Pisnik has brought all that Grand Slam experience to the pickleball court, and she's been climbing the pro ranks. She owns a tennis coaching business called Smash Tennis at the Bradenton Tennis Center and has been adding pickleball dominance to her resume. With her serve-and-volley instincts from grass court tennis translating beautifully to the kitchen line, she's one of the most technically sound players you'll see on tour. At 44, she's proof that world-class athleticism doesn't have an expiration date.