Karin Ptaszek-Kochis from Denmark reached the top 300 in women’s singles during her professional tennis career. 

But now at 52, she is topping the rankings in the women’s senior charts in pickleball and is ready to represent her homeland in Southampton. 

“I saw pickleball being played when I was playing tennis in Florida and I taught people to play it,” she said. 

“I taught it to people but I didn’t have any interest in playing it. Prior to moving to Florida I had played an outdoor winter sport called platform tennis that is played on the same size court as pickleball.  

“And I couldn’t play that in Florida but I have a competitive personality so pickleball came along, and now I can’t get enough of it!

“I think this is the most social sport I have played, so many people can play it, and different levels can mix easily too. 

“But it is also competitive which I like, it ticks a lot of things that I want out of sport.” 

Ptaszek-Kochis moved to the US to play tennis at college and stayed there ever since, building a strong career. 

The Aalborg native has won eight singles events already this year, including the prestigious US Open. 

She will hope to add European honours to her collection as she plays for Denmark in the team championship, where medals won across women’s, men’s and mixed doubles will be added together to decide the overall champion. 

Ptaszek-Kochis is set to compete in the senior championships and despite having spent more than half her life away from Denmark, she is delighted to be representing her homeland. 

She added: “2024 has been a very good year for me, I have won a total of eight APP [Association of Pickleball Players] events, so that has made me the top ranked women’s senior player on the APP.  

“I also won the US Open which is one of the big events. I am also ranked in the top ten in mixed and women’s doubles as well.  

“Even though I haven’t lived in Denmark for a number of years, I feel Danish still, there are always things that draw me back or take me back to Denmark.  

“I played for Denmark in the Fed Cup for several years as a tennis player. It is amazing to be competing at that level again in a new sport, it is in unbelievable.” 

Find out more information about the European Pickleball Championships by visiting www.europeanpickleballfederation.org