Andy Roddick Says Pickleball Has Been a 'Fun Excuse to Reconnect' With Andre Agassi

Roddick and Agassi defeated John McEnroe and Michael Chang during the first-ever Pickleball Slam exhibition on Sunday

Tennis star Andy Roddick is one of the latest stars to join the pickleball craze.

The sport is new to Roddick, 40, who tells PEOPLE he "didn't play at all until a couple of months ago" when he agreed to participate in the first-ever Pickleball Slam exhibition with fellow tennis greats Andre Agassi, John McEnroe and Michael Chang.

The first time Roddick played publicly was during the exhibition, where he and Agassi defeated McEnroe and Chang 3-1 in the match to win the $1 million purse.

"I will say that the million-dollar prize probably had something to do with it, but it's been pretty fun," Roddick joked.

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Roddick, the last American to win a men's singles Grand Slam with his title at the 2003 US Open, tells PEOPLE, "It's not often you get to kind of have a crash course over the court in 10 weeks to get ready for an event in something you've never really done before."

One of Roddick's favorite parts of immersing himself into the new sport has been the time it's allowed him to catch up with Agassi.

"What has been pretty fun is getting the daily analysis from Andre Agassi and his breakdowns of what he's learned, what's working for him, what we should do," Roddick says. "It's been kind of a fun excuse to reconnect almost on a daily basis now," adds Roddick.

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The tennis star has also enjoyed sharing his new hobby with his family. "My son loves going out in the front driveway to play. It's a lot easier learning curve than tennis, especially for kids, so he loves it," says Roddick, who is married to Brooklyn Decker.

The couple shares son Hank, 7, and daughter Stevie, 5.

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Roddick's wife, actress Brooklyn Decker, has tried her hand at pickleball too, says the athlete. "My wife got out on the court last week for about five minutes, but she's curious about it," he says.

Roddick and Decker married in 2009 in a romantic ceremony in Texas. In 2015, they welcomed Hank, and then Stevie two years later.

"It's the most beautiful thing in the world," Decker told PEOPLE in 2020 of her family with Roddick. "It's the most exhausting thing in the world. It's the most fulfilling thing in the world. All of that is true. It's wonderful."

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