Rising pickleball brand Maxwill Sports are celebrating the latest chapter in a ‘Cinderella story’ as they prepare to unveil their new paddle at this week’s Skechers English OPEN. General Business Manager Andre Roberts lived in the UK for over 20 years before relocating to China and has helped navigate the company’s transition from table tennis to pickleball.

This week’s event in Telford, the biggest pickleball competition outside of the US, will be Maxwill’s first ever showing at a European tournament and Roberts is delighted to see the progress the company has made. “From a company perspective, we’re elated we’re there,” he said. “We’re competing at the highest level with some big brands so we’re very excited about that. “From a personal note, to have helped the company grow over two years to this level has been a journey and this particular showing is that milestone, that we’re now at this level. “So it’s a bit of a Cinderella story that we’ve been able to pull it off.

That’s something we’re grateful for and we want to take full advantage of at this tournament.” Co-owned by former Olympic table tennis player Li Qian, Maxwill pride themselves on a ‘C2F’ (ceiling to floor) service, providing everything from flooring and lighting to bags and paddles. Roberts used to work in London's famous Westfield shopping centre and was then a teacher in China before overseeing Maxwill’s foray into pickleball, with the company already the largest distributor of table tennis equipment in southeast Asia.

Shrey Surya Mishra, the 12th-best player in India, is Maxwill’s marquee playing representative at the Skechers English OPEN but Roberts is confident that competitors of all abilities will enjoy using their paddles. “The player input is what makes us unique,” he said. “It took us 18 months to do the research and study all the paddles that are out there to find out what people are rooting for and wanting to use. “Other brands are churning out paddles quickly but we took a long time to develop ours and know that when players use them, they’re going to see immediate results and notice big differences from the other, for example more control and some more spin ability.

“Our greatest strength is the attention to the needs of the players.” 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