Meet the Squeeze: Orlando’s pro pickleball team taking sport by storm

Yates Johnson and his twin brother Hunter had dreams of playing tennis at the highest level.

The pair attended SMU in Dallas and quickly became one of the top doubles duos in school history. But after graduating from college and spending four years on the professional tour, the Johnsons faced a difficult decision.

Yates suffered a serious injury that sidelined him for five months, while Hunter had spent time playing tennis in Europe. That’s when the pair were provided an opportunity that would change their lives: to play professional pickleball.

“At first, we said, ‘No way, that’s so lame. We’re not doing that. Our dream is to play Wimbledon and the U.S. Open,’” Yates Johnson, 31, recently told the Orlando Sentinel. “We sat on it, did a little pros and cons list, and decided, I guess we’re doing pickleball.”

Fast forward five years, and the two compete year-round in pro pickleball, with Yates Johnson a member of the Orlando Squeeze, one of the highest-profile pro pickleball teams. It was founded in 2023 by Ryan DeVos, along with other members of the DeVos family, who own the Orlando Magic. Meanwhile, Hunter Johnson plays for the Chicago Slice.

They compete in the team-based Major League Pickleball, which starts its regular season this weekend in Dallas.

In fact, there are 20 MLP teams across all market sizes, from Las Vegas to Columbus, Ohio, to Atlanta and St. Louis. This season, the MLP calendar features 13 total events, consisting of nine regular season events, the mid-season tournament, and three weekends of the playoffs, all taking place from May to August.

The last regular-season event this year takes place at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney, July 30-Aug. 2. Single-session tickets or four-day packages can be purchased on the Major League Pickleball’s website.

Both the league and the sport itself have grown rapidly since the Johnson brothers made the switch.

Search online for the “fastest growing sport in America,” and the overwhelming answer is pickleball. Players on the pro pickleball tour made $260,000 on average in 2024, CNBC reported, but some at the top can make $2-3 million based on annual winnings and brand endorsements.

“We kind of hit the ground running … and haven’t looked back,” Yates Johnson said. “It’s just been amazing to see the growth of pickleball. … We’re in the pickleball boom right now. And I don’t think it’s going to stop.”

What the sport is, and what it isn’t

While Johnson and his brother fell short of winning tennis grand slams before they crossed over to pickleball, Jack Sock did not.

Sock, 33, won four major doubles tennis titles. His first came in mixed doubles at the 2011 US Open, and his next three came in men’s doubles: at Wimbledon in 2014 and 2018, and at the 2018 US Open.

Between injuries and the 2020 pandemic, Sock began playing pickleball recreationally. That’s when he realized he was having fun again and turned pro in 2023, joining the Squeeze earlier this year in the free agency draft.

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“Tennis, for me, at the end with the injuries was getting less enjoyable,” Sock told the Sentinel. “So, this kind of gave me a second wind to be on the court again and be competitive, which has been, honestly, one of the biggest blessings of my life because I was struggling on the tennis court at the end.”

Compared to a tennis court, a pickleball court is significantly smaller. Pickleball is played with a solid paddle and a hollow plastic ball with holes, similar to a wiffle ball, instead of the woven racket and rubber ball covered in felt used in tennis.

The matches are often quicker than tennis and use a more straightforward scoring system — first to 11 points, win by two. In general, pickleball is viewed as an easier sport to pick up.

“I never had a doubt of pickleball growing at the amateur level because of how much fun it is to play,” said Federico Staksrud, 29, the Squeeze’s top player who’s frequently ranked among the top ten pickleball players in the world. “The sport itself is unbelievable.

“You can learn right away,” he added. “It’s fun, and the learning curve is easy. … That’s why it’s growing so much.”

But make no mistake, pro pickleball is fierce.

“It’s serious. And we take it seriously,” Squeeze player Lacy Schneemann, 28, told the Sentinel. “There’s screaming, there’s drama, there’s good competition and it all gets pretty exciting and entertaining. It’s intense.”

Freshly squeezed success

Talk with any of the Squeeze players, and it’s clear there’s something different about the Orlando squad.

The Squeeze team has merchandising, a popular social media presence and tons of support across the country. Their bright orange uniforms are hard to miss, and their mascot, Lil’ Squeezy, is a fan favorite. Their Instagram account garners 12,500 followers — more than double and sometimes triple that of most MLP teams.

And none of that is by accident. The DeVos family relies on their experience from the Magic when running the Squeeze.

“We don’t make investments in things unless we’re ready to commit to it and do it at the highest level,” Ryan DeVos, who serves as the managing director for the Magic, told the Sentinel. “We have the operational know-how on the back end from our time with the Magic. … So, it’s easy for us to kind of apply those learnings and ultimately do things at the highest level.

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“The Squeeze and our group has really pushed the league forward,” he added. “This is a professional sport. It’s a professional league. These are professional athletes. And they need to be treated as such. And we need to grow the game as such.”

The players recognize and appreciate that level of investment. The team, which features six players, won its first MLP title at the premier level in its inaugural season and believe they have a talented group this year.

“What I like about Ryan, the DeVos family and the ownership group is that if they do something, they’re going to do it 100%,” Staksrud said. “They’re not going to do like 50%. That’s my mentality when I step on the court, or when I practice, or if I go to the gym, I’m going to give all I can every time. That’s what they do as an ownership group and, as a player, you appreciate that.”

Added Sock: “We have very good players to do a lot of damage this summer. I’m just really excited to be on a very competitive team that clearly cares about doing well and putting our best product out there when we’re playing.”

‘A dream come true’

The decision to switch from tennis to pickleball at first was not as easy as it turned out to be for the Johnson brothers.

“To put that aside and to go after a sport that maybe is a little unknown … was pretty scary,” Johnson said. “To be able to make that decision when we did, everyone thought we were crazy.

“Once we started doing pretty well, it was kind of the opposite reaction,” he added. “Everyone was kind of like, ‘Wow, how’d you guys decide that? That’s so smart.’ So, kind of a snowball effect from there. It’s just crazy that we get to play pickleball.”

That sentiment is shared by his Squeeze teammates.

“It’s always crazy to sit down for a second and think about me being able to do this and us being able to do this as a job,” Schneemann said.

“It’s a dream come true.”

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com