Novak Djokovic’s former hitting partner, Connor Garnett, is now a professional pickleball player

Pickleball and tennis are naturally associated with one another, with Connor Garnett perhaps the best example. Like 47 percent of professional pickleball players today, Garnett began in college tennis, specifically at Division I Santa Clara University.

Following graduation, Garnett worked in investment banking, but he was still tied to the courts—as Novak Djokovic’s hitting partner. According the MLP, Garnett also coached for Simona Halep “and many others.”

In 2022, Garnett tried his hand in the pickleball world, earning silver in both singles and doubles in his first pro tournament.

Today, he sits comfortably at No. 3 in the singles rankings, is 300 points away from crawling into the Top 15 in men’s doubles and is teetering the edge of the Top 20 in mixed. He also competes on the Bay Area Breakers, a challenger MLP team.

While his buddy Djokovic withdrew from the year-end finals due to injury, Garnett is competing in the PPA World Championships in Dallas. It can be streamed live on PickleballTV all week long.