Teenager Lucas Town starred in an historic week for pickleball at a record-breaking Skechers English OPEN.

Student Town, 17, who attends Huddersfield New College, 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.

“The growth of pickleball has been absolutely phenomenal,” said Town.

“Our local tennis centre, where we do our tennis sessions, they have pickleball on the Monday and we’re getting pushed down to one court at times because the pickleball is growing a lot.

“I didn’t think it had grown as much in the UK as it had in the US – I thought it would kind of stay in the US, but I can see why it’s exploded in popularity.

“The event has been really good. The venue is massive and I was saying on the way down that all the biggest tennis competitions I’ve played over here, even the ones you see others play internationally, they are nowhere near as big as this.”

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.

“I think the English Open is going to be struggling because there are going to be so many new people coming, the scheduling is going to go all over the place,” added Town.

“They’re going to have to get a stadium – get the John Smith’s Stadium and turn it into a pickleball court!”

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