Chris Haworth: Babolat helps pickleball find its next ‘it’ guy

When Babolat signed Chris Haworth in April 2024 after he won his first pickleball tournament, it was taking a chance on a relatively unknown player. Six months later, Haworth was almost 2,500 points clear at the top of the world rankings after a meteoric rise. Haworth’s professional pickleball career growth began when he took a set off perennial No. 1 Ben Johns in his first-ever pro tournament. A few months later in November 2023, it was an upset over the same player and a bronze medal at the US Nationals that made Haworth suddenly realize he could be mentioned among the elites in the US’s fastest growing sport.

Over the next 12 months, Haworth (pronounced Hay-worth) won a staggering nine gold medals, two silvers, and 1 bronze medal competing on both the APP and PPA tours. In addition, he joined the MLP California Black Bears making for a monstrous 2024 season! All this success is significant for the 31-year-old, who clinched his first career singles title amidst the heated 'tour wars' of professional pickleball. Babolat took notice and signed him as its first professional player to receive a ‘total look’ (head-to-toe sponsorship), covering pickleball paddles, pickleball shoes, pickleball apparel and pickleball bags.

All-American with Division I offers

“When I signed up for my first PPA tournament in Scottsdale, I thought of it like a vacation,” said Haworth. “At the time I was only training part-time and so winning that set off Johns gave me a lot of confidence. I knew right then that I could beat the best players.”

Haworth, a former three-time state champion and All-American in high school who went on to play Division I tennis, has rapidly become the ‘it’ guy in a sport that is eagerly searching for its next standout star.

The pro tours have a mixture of original pickleball players and those who have made a successful transition from tennis, including some household names. “There’s a huge new wave of players coming in who were good college tennis players,” said Haworth, who estimates that 80 percent of the pickleball pros played college tennis on some level. “I think it’s good to have new players winning.”

Connecting recreational players to professionals

Haworth said he recently heard a stat that, even with pickleball’s popularity on the recreation front, only three percent of recreational pickleballers could name five pros.

“That's the biggest difference between tennis and pickleball right now,” he said. “People follow players and want to know their stories. If someone is a fan of Rafa Nadal and knows he’s playing at 2 p.m. today, they’re going to rearrange their schedule to watch him play. I believe connecting recreational players to professionals is the next step. How that happens, I’m not sure, but hopefully, that’s in the near future.”

One popular pickleball website posted a profile calling Haworth – in bold and all caps – ‘PICKLEBALL’S NEWEST COWBOY’. The cowboy reference pays homage to his hometown of Oklahoma City, where he and his older sister, Courtney, were raised by their parents, Rick and Claudia, in an athletic family.

A youth national baseball champion at nine, Haworth decided to give up America’s national pastime a year later and focus solely on tennis, playing with Babolat’s Pure Aero racquet. He quickly rose to No. 1 in his section’s age group, was ranked top 10 nationally in the 16s and among the top six in the 18s. Seeking better competition, Haworth spent a year at John Newcombe’s tennis academy in Texas – eight hours from his home – during his senior year in high school.

Giving up the day job

Following his graduation and a year into his 9-to-5 marketing job, Haworth found himself constantly browsing tennis websites and checking the results of players he knew he could still beat. So, in 2017, at the age of 25, he decided to give professional tennis a shot. However, after just a year of mixed results on the minor league ITF circuit and growing weary of the travel and minimal prize money, Haworth chose to retire from competitive play and settled into a full-time director role teaching at a tennis academy near his home in Oklahoma City.

He first picked up a pickleball paddle during a break from one of his daily junior clinics. “Initially, I found it challenging,” he reflects on the game, a fun blend of tennis, table tennis, and badminton, invented in Washington in 1965 and played on a smaller tennis court. “Setting up the net and chalking the lines for one lesson was a bit of work, but I soon discovered it was a unique and engaging experience that sparked my interest.”

In late 2022, he was re-introduced to the sport, and once he started competing with players of his own ability, he fell in love with it.

Workout regimen typical of many pros

At 6-foot-4, Haworth plays pickleball with a ‘tennis style’ and his power game from the baseline is considered the best on tour. He uses Babolat’s thinnest paddle, the STRKR+, in singles for optimal power and the thickest Babolat paddle, the WZRD, for doubles and more consistent control. “For me it’s like a different tension of string,” he says. “Paddles are made of the same materials so it’s all about the weight and thickness.”

In Pickleball, unlike professional tennis where singles is the main focus, tournament weeks are typically centered around doubles, which is the primary draw of the event. Most top players on tour initially find success in singles with their double’s achievements following shortly thereafter. Currently, all of Haworth’s medals are in singles. However, after strong performances in the MLP, PPA, and APP tournaments, he has been consistently advancing further in doubles, bringing him closer to securing gold medals in that event!

Haworth says he doesn’t want to be branded a singles specialist. “I’m going to spend my off-season concentrating on doubles,” he said, adding that his workout regimen is typical of many pros, with three to four hours on court supplemented with work in the gym.

“When I first saw Chris, what struck me was his incredible power baseline game, but I think even Chris would tell you he’s surprised at the results he’s had in just one year on tour,” said his agent, Sam Flaxman, who is also a former college tennis player. “It’s really incredible what he’s been able to do in such a short time.”

Haworth’s Babolat sponsorship deal was a fortunate and perfectly timed signing. “They took a chance on me because I was a bit of an unknown,” he says. “They weren’t going to go after a top five player right away, so for me it really worked out, and I’ve developed into that top five player with their technology and their paddles. It’s great for them and for me.”

Team babolat pro players may play with a customized or different model than the equipment depicted.