Ben Johns is widely considered to be the greatest pickleball player on the planet.

At just 26 years old, his remarkable accomplishments on the court are well documented, but things certainly didn't start out that way.

On the most recent episode of the Pickleballers podcast, Johns recalled his first pickleball experience.

Johns came upon a pickleball court in Estero, FL while his older brother, Collin, was playing tennis nearby. And Ben thought, 'Why not try this new sport!'

“I was 17 and living in Florida with my family for a few months to escape the winter in Maryland, and I ended up playing pickleball with a lot of the older people in the community just for fun,” he said. “My first tournament ever was the US Open in 2016, and I’d been playing pickleball for a month. I played with Vivienne David’s older sister, Abbie, in the mixed age division, and I played pro singles. In singles, I got fifth.”

“I played a few more tournaments in 2016, but what I consider the start of pickleball for me was my senior year in high school. We went back to Estero, and being homeschooled, I played pickleball every morning with Kyle [Yates] who was the best player at the time. We would drill every day,” he added. “That’s how I got good. I just drilled with Kyle every day in 2017. Simone [Jardim] also moved there, and she was the best women’s player in the world, so I played with her a lot, too.”

When Johns began college at the University of Maryland, he traveled to tournaments on weekends when possible since education was a top priority. 

So at what point did Yates partner with Johns?

“In the 2017 men’s doubles final, Kyle lost, and I remember watching the match. I got a text from him 30 minutes after the match and he says, ‘Bro! We’re playing everything together next year. Lock in!’,” explained Johns. “Kyle was the guy in pickleball, and playing with him made me get a lot better. I started playing with Simone in 2019. A lot of the success I had was partner-based. Playing with both of them and just being around the best players, it all lined up. And for singles, not many people would train for singles, and I was one of the few that would along with Tyson [McGuffin].”

McGuffin and Johns would be the most consistent men’s singles final matchup during the early parts of their respective careers. 

“At one point, Tyson and I were 100% training just against each other because we weren’t losing to other people, and we were the primary two that were making each other better,” mentioned Johns. “I was getting better because I was playing Tyson in every final.” 

To see where Johns is now with 164 titles and counting is simply incredible.

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