Players to Watch – Christine McGrath
One of the more accomplished doubles players on the professional pickleball circuit, Christine McGrath grew up in Southern California, but made her way cross country to play Division I tennis, first at the United States Military Academy at West Point for two years, before finishing up her collegiate career at Marist College which overlooks the beautiful Hudson River Valley in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York.
She started playing pickleball in September of 2014 and with her high level of talent in tennis quickly found pickleball to her liking. “I loved that it was a new and exciting sport to compete after college tennis,” said Christine. “We are seeing more and more high-quality tennis players coming into the sport and I think many of these players are helping to recruit their former friends from tennis as well. I know I have convinced many of my tennis friends to give pickleball a try and a lot of them are hooked and are now playing with me in the pro ranks.”
In 2017, McGrath captured a bronze medal in the Women’s Pro division at the US Open, was a silver medalist in Women’s Doubles at the Tournament of Champions while taking home gold in the Women’s 19+ division along with bronze and silver medals in Women’s Pro Doubles and Mixed Doubles 19+ respectively. In 2018, she won gold in Women’s and Mixed Doubles 25+ at the US Open. In her home state of California, she stood atop the medal platform with gold in Pro Mixed Doubles at the Golden State Championships.
Adding to her medal count, at the US Open in March, Christine captured a silver medal in Mixed Doubles 25+.
The sport of pickleball fosters a natural camaraderie amongst its players and Christine knows the future of the sport is extremely bright. “We will continue to see the sport growing and the professional aspect of the sport evolving. We will also see more prize money coming into the sport at the professional level and yes, we will see pickleball in the Olympics one day.”
Come out to the https://usapickleballnationalchampionships.com and see all the action!
