How Thaddea Lock went from tennis pro to England's top pickleball player

Thaddea Lock, England's top female pickleball player, never anticipated that her casual foray into the sport would lead to an invitation to Jamie Foxx's Super Bowl party. The 37 year old Bristol native, a former tennis professional, credits her ascent in pickleball to a "why not? " approach that has brought her remarkable success.

This weekend, she is poised to compete for England at the first European Pickleball Team Championships, joining a sport with high-profile backers like LeBron James, Tom Brady, and Michael Phelps as it gains popularity in the UK. Recounting her unexpected journey, Lock shared with PA news agency, "I kind of stumbled into (pickleball)," explaining how a holiday in Kansas led to her introduction to the game by Katie Swan's mother.

Despite her initial unfamiliarity, Lock embraced the game, saying, "Katie’s mom had been telling me for a while that I had to play pickleball with their friend Lucy, and I’d never heard of it, but I was just, like, OK."

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After enjoying three fun sessions, Lock received encouragement from Lucy to continue playing. Upon returning home, she reached out to a club, admitting, "I emailed a club (who asked), ‘what level are you? ’. I didn’t know anything, so I messaged Lucy and she said, ‘say you’re a 5.0′."

"They (replied), ‘if you’re a 5.0, you’re going to be the best female player in the country’. And then they asked, ‘Lucy, who you were playing with, who is that? ’. I said, ‘Lucy Kovalova, do you know her? ’ and they said, ‘yeah, she’s the best female player in the world.’".

Once a junior tennis player ranked 300th in the world and 900th on the WTA tour, Lock studied in the United States on an athletic scholarship before returning to the UK. Here, she began coaching and eventually started working for the LTA.

For a time, she was also the hitting partner for Alfie Hewett, a meeting that occurred rather fortuitously at a wheelchair tennis event. However, just as she was preparing to accompany the Paralympic champion to the Australian Open, Lock was hospitalised with glandular fever, hepatitis and jaundice.

For the following two months, Lock could barely leave her bed. Even when she started to feel better, she realised: "I couldn’t go back to tennis. It was just way too intense." So, she turned her attention to pickleball – a paddle sport that blends elements of badminton, tennis and table tennis.

Despite still suffering from glandular fever, she won the triple crown – the women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles – at her first tournament in 2019. She repeated this feat at the English open a month later, just before the Covid-19 pandemic struck as the game was beginning to gain traction in the UK.

According to data from Pickleball England, the estimated number of players in England has surged from around 2,000 at the end of 2019 to 35,000 as of this year. Similarly, the number of venues has also risen by 94 to 637 during this period.

Lock said: "I think, as a country, England are probably the furthest ahead of all the countries in Europe, and once it’s easier for the general public, the sport will just grow and grow. I hope the kind of money at the top end doesn’t destroy what the sport brings to people, that it keeps its friendly atmosphere."

Lock is under the impression she's the sole person in the nation not holding down a full-time job outside pickleball. The sport is seen as the fastest expanding one in the States, boasting endorsements from well-known figures including Patrick Mahomes, Naomi Osaka, and Eva Longoria who have stakes in Major League Pickball.

Foxx, a fixture in the sport with three pickleball courts at his Los Angeles residence, found himself requiring a playing partner while he was shooting in London. Lock stepped up; having left her job in September to dedicate herself to the rapidly growing sport.

During the practice, which took place on nondescript "back courts in the middle of nowhere" and attended solely by Foxx's manager, Foxx then offered Lock an unexpected plus-one to his Super Bowl gathering at his London rental.

She recounted the experience with Foxx: "He invited these eight strangers that he’d never met before. There’s not many situations where you can do something like that with Jamie Foxx. We could have been anyone, but he trusted us, and I think pickleball kind of allowed that to happen."