Following his controversial comments at Wimbledon, there was a lot of interest in tennis legend Novak Djokovic playing pickleball in New York City on Thursday evening.

Last month, the 24-time Grand Slam champion told reporters that "tennis is endangered" by the rise in popularity of pickleball and padel, which, as expected, generated significant conversation.

Nevertheless, Djokovic was front and center at The HEAD NYC Mash Up event alongside fellow US Open participants Jannik Sinner and Barbora Krejcikova, and pickleball veteran Callie Smith.

Djokovic was paired with Krejcikova for the match, while Sinner played with Smith.

Tennis Hall of Famer John McEnroe also picked up a paddle at Djokovic's insistence after serving as the event MC, and eventually replaced him on the indoor court.

For his part, Sinner genuinely appreciated the opportunity to give America's fastest-growing sport a try.

"It's a different sport definitely than tennis," he explained. "It was the first time for me. It was also a nice feeling to share the court with our tennis players. It's good to play doubles, two against two. It's nice to also communicate. It's a good sport."

Shortly before the players started rallying, they spent several minutes decorating paddles with stickers and competing to see whose design would reign supreme.

It wasn't surprising that Smith emerged as the clear winner.