player at Michigan, known for some of the hardest ground strokes in the game, men or women.
In this episode, Brooke sits down with Roscoe and Jared to trace her path from junior tennis and college coaching at Michigan, Yale, and UNC Charlotte to becoming a stay-at-home mom in 2020 and, almost by accident, one of pickleball's top singles players. They dig into her training with Mike Wolf, her run with the Dallas Flash, and her near-upset of Anna Lee Waters.
Brooke opens up about walking away from a pro tennis track at her coach's advice, becoming a stay-at-home mom during COVID, and how her mother pushed her onto a pickleball court as a way to get her competitive again. She breaks down her jump from rec-league pickleball to the pro tour, admitting she barely trained for singles in the early days and got in "at the right time" before the women's field got deep.
Brooke also shares the story of going up 9-4 on Anna Lee Waters before the match slipped away, why she thinks she'll beat her "once" before retiring, and what it's been like building a relationship with Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf through Joola, including the text Agassi sent her after a tough loss. She closes out on her new doubles partnership with Caitlin Christian, her goal of reaching a championship Sunday in doubles, and what she wants her legacy to be as a mom who kept chasing her career.
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Timestamps:
1:25 — Brooke joins the podcast
2:07 — Life with the Dallas Flash
5:15 — MLP vs. singles focus
6:04 — Rating her own singles and doubles game
8:35 — Growing up in Cleveland
9:50 — Junior tennis and going pro young
12:33 — Playing at Michigan
18:27 — Marriage, kids, and leaving coaching
19:53 — How her mom got her into pickleball
24:34 — First pro pickleball events
24:38 — Breaking into the top of women's singles
31:19 — Working with Mike Wolf
33:39 — Signing with Joola
32:45 — Relationship with Andre Agassi
33:48 — The Insane Anna Leigh Waters match
40:56 — The next generation of "pickle kids"
47:08 — Goals in doubles
53:38 — Legacy and what's next