Having left the Tampa Bay area as an accomplished tennis player and returned as top-notch pickleball player, Jay Evans has come full circle.
The 32-year-old’s accomplishments on the tennis court include being the first high school player from Tampa Robinson to land a scholarship, thanks in part to a school record 23-match win streak at No. 1 singles. He went on to play for Piedmont, a Division III university in Georgia.
Evans coached at St. Petersburg Lakewood High, then at small colleges in West Virginia and South Carolina. During a summer tennis camp in 2020, he learned that youngsters preferred playing pickleball, so he gave it a shot.
“By the second week of the summer nobody wanted to play tennis. Everybody wanted to play pickleball,” he recollected.
Evans found instant success, winning some tournaments and landing sponsorships before becoming an instructor at Tampa Bay Pickleball in Oldsmar.
“It’s presented a good opportunity to get my feet wet in coaching pickleball,” said Evans, adding, “Our regulars love when I jump into games.”
A tennis background, he noted, helped in his newfound passion for pickleball.
“Most important is court awareness and having a feeling of playing with a racquet in your hand,” Evans said.
Evans also plays in tourneys with Forest Dennis, an established pickleball player and former Tampa Robinson teammate. Last week, Evans played in a Professional Pickleball Association tourney in Kansas City.
Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay Pickleball
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