Pickleball provides second chance for injury-plagued tennis prodigy Jessie Irvine
Jessie Irvine had designs on being the next big thing in American women's tennis.
She was a top 10-ranked junior player out of North Carolina. By age 13 she was attending prestigious tennis academies in Florida. Everything was on schedule, but what Irvine didn't know is that her body was working against her.
She was born with insufficient cartilage in her body to cushion her bones and joints. The condition was, of course, being exacerbated by the rigors of the sport she loved. She tried to play with the chronic aches and pains, but eventually, the condition manifested itself in one of the worst possible places for a tennis player, her shoulder. With no cartilage, nerves would slide in and out of place in her shoulder, causing severe pain.
“I could be up a set and a break in the semifinal, and if my shoulder decided to give out, I would have to retire from the tournament,” Irvine told tennis.com. “When you can’t control how your body reacts to things, there’s an incredible sense of frustration and helplessness.”
By age 18, the writing was on the wall. The pain management and physical limitations of her condition made a tennis career impossible. She moved to Los Angeles and attended UCLA where an even more serious health scare occurred.
She hadn't been feeling well for about a week and finally decided to walk across the street from where she lived to the hospital at UCLA. It didn't take the doctors long to figure out she was having a full kidney failure.
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"That was scary, everything in my body was slowly failing and my kidney just kind of shut down," Irvine told The Desert Sun on Wednesday. "I took some time to recover and rehab, and I started teaching tennis, and it really just sort of made me appreciate staying in the moment in my life. I don't look too far ahead in general, because it's not healthy worrying about things you can't control."
Even if Irvine tried to look ahead, she never could've foreseen what her future had in store.
Now, at age 33, Irvine is one of the world's top pro pickleball players. She never could have imagined that life would deal her a second chance at making a living with a racket in her hand.
In the desert for the Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championship being played at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden through Sunday, Irvine was all smiles Wednesday, describing her unusual path to pickleball.
She said at the end of 2018 a friend of hers suggested she try pickleball. It was an instant fit. By the start of 2019, she was all in. She was still in good shape, still had that competitive drive, had the instinctive racket-eye coordination, and best of all, there's no overhand serving in pickleball so her shoulder issue wasn't a problem.
"My tennis career was kind of cut short by injuries so I never actually thought that something like this could happen, and I would get another chance to be competitive and try to be one of the best players in the world and compete at a high level," Irvine said. "I really thought that goal in life was done. But in 2019 I decided to give pickleball a go and I've been going ever since."
With her innate skill, it didn't take long for her to taste victory. Irvine, who only plays doubles, partnered with Ben Johns and won the Tournament of Champions in 2019 less than a year after she took up the sport. She is currently ranked in the top 10 in women's doubles and mixed doubles.
She took silver at the Indian Wells event in women's doubles in 2019 and bronze last year. There was no event in 2020. She said that because of her tennis background, this is her favorite event on the pickleball calendar.
"This is at the top of the list, and one of the main reasons is because I came from tennis so to be able to play at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden is a big deal for me," Irvine said. "It's a great venue and it holds a lot of tennis memories, so it's kind of cool to play here. And then the weather is always great. You can't complain."
And that really encapsulates Irvine's current mindset in life. She can't complain.
This unusual sport that she never even knew existed five years ago has given her a new lease on life. She still can't believe what's happening. Her family can watch her play on TV and strangers recognize her on the street. It's the life she always dreamed of, just with a smaller racket.
"Playing tennis professionally, that was my goal. So when I couldn't do it anymore and that got cut short it was very heartbreaking for me to deal with that," Irvine said. "So to be doing this now, even though it's pickleball, I just love competing and I just like being out there. I appreciate every moment."
Shad Powers is a sports columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Pickleball: Tennis prodigy Jessie Irvine given second chance at glory
