Jayson Patel starred in an historic week for pickleball at a record-breaking Skechers English OPEN.

Project manager Patel, 35, featured in the English Open at the Telford International Centre – the largest pickleball event taking place outside of North America.

With ages from 7 to 70+ competing, the event is reflective of the incredible growth in pickleball over recent years, with a record number of almost 2,000 players from 42 countries participating in a sport which has aspirations of making the Olympic programme.

“I moved into my current home about a year ago and we were looking at different hobbies just to keep active and find something to do,” said Rickmansworth's Patel.

“I then came across this thing in the local gym called pickleball and thought ‘what’s that?’, so I literally looked on YouTube, found what it was and thought I’d give it a go.

“I turned up late November last year and haven’t looked back since.

“Since then, I’ve played at last once or twice a week and I’ve also set up my own club, Smash N Pickle, in Rickmansworth, so we do competitive play sessions, coaching and things like that.

“We get roughly 20 people per session, we tend to have a minimum of two courts every week, twice a week.”

This year’s English OPEN comprised seven days of high-level competition, with the world’s top professionals from America, Europe and Asia taking to the court in singles, doubles, mixed, wheelchair and junior events.

A hybrid of tennis, badminton & table tennis, the sport’s popularity has been attributed to its accessibility. Easy to pick up and fun to play, the sport’s accessibility transcends demographics, providing it with universal appeal.

“It’s been organised really well, the courts are fantastic – as you can imagine, we only get to play on school-hired badminton courts, so it’s nice not to have the additional lines,” added Patel.

“I play doubles predominantly, most people in the sport usually play doubles, but I’m quite competitive, very sporty, so I thought I’d give singles a try.”

Pickleball England has announced a record number of players competing at this year’s English OPEN from the 8th-14th August at the Telford International Centre in the largest pickleball event taking place outside of the USA EVER – visit pickleballengland.org