If there’s one thing that pro pickleball desperately needs, it’s a villain.

I don’t mean someone who’s sneaking onto the venue in the middle of the night and painting graffiti on the court, I mean a pro athlete who fans love to hate.

I want a Mike Tyson of the pro pickleball world. A guy who’s insanely talented but will argue with the refs, make questionable line calls, and lean into a “bad boy” image. I want a player who’s causing a little bit of chaos on the court, but who’s also making some of the most insane shots you’ve ever seen in your life.

“Every great sport has villains. People tuned in just to watch John McEnroe or Nick Kyrgios lose. Pickleball has done a great job at making heroes. You’ve got Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters. But every hero does need a villain and the sport hasn’t really built one,” said pro pickleball athlete, Zane Navratil.

No one on the pro tour has that arrogant but entertaining Connor McGregor “I don’t give a f***” mentality, where they double down on their questionable calls but still play an incredible game.

The problem is, no one really wants to be a villain.

I think the pros who are emotive on the court would rather be labeled as a showman, not a villain. Getting called a villain implies that you’re wicked, cruel, malicious. You’re the person that fans want to root against. 

And when pros are trying to get brand deals and make a name for themselves, they don’t want to come across looking like a jerk and lose out on opportunities because they had a bad clip go viral.

So, who would be the perfect villain for pro pickleball? I don’t think we’ve met them yet.

Navratil suggested pros like Hayden Patriquin and Christian Alshon.

“Hayden can maybe grow into that role. Hayden celebrates net cords, he talks trash, he wears his emotions on his sleeves. And people absolutely love watching him,” Navratil said.

But I think Patriquin’s personality on the court is cheeky, he’s more like the class clown.

And while Alshon gets a lot of heat on social media for his emotional outbursts, Alshon doesn’t want the label of being a bad guy. He’s open with his faith and talks about God in post-match interviews. Alshon can’t be a villain if he’s also giving the glory to God.

Tyson McGuffin looks like the textbook perfect villain with his bold appearance, but he’s a family man now and is leaning into that persona.

I want that old-school McGuffin cocky, rebellious energy, in a young pro who’s also going to continually upset the best pros in the world.

Because that’s the key. To be a good villain you have to rival the hero. The audience has to be biting their nails with worry that the hero won’t defeat the villain. So the villain has to be consistently very good.

And with our heroes being Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters, there’s very few who are acting as formidable rivals, and none of them want to be labeled as a villain.

I personally hope that one of these rowdy kids will grow up to be the John McEnroe of pickleball because we desperately need them for entertainment value.

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