Ben Johns, the No. 1 doubles player on the PPA Tour and widely regarded as the greatest pickleball player, has some advice for amateur players: “Don’t go for the hero shot. You don’t want to be a zero when you go for the hero shot.” Johns was the No. 1 across men’s singles, doubles, and mixed doubles before Federico Staksrud toppled him as the new No. 1 in men’s singles in 2024. His dominance includes a 108-match winning streak in singles, with more than 150 PPA titles to his name. At the Orange County Cup in June, Johns and his mixed doubles partner Anna Leigh Waters won their 50th mixed doubles title by taking down the second-seeded duo of Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson 11-4, 11-9, 11-5 in the final.

“You don’t need to go for the hero shot. You don’t want to be a zero when you go for the hero shot,” Johns told CNN News Central, urging amateur players to focus on smart shot selection over flashy plays. “Pickleball is all about making one more ball. It’s really not that hard. You just don’t need to go for too much at a time. Pickleball really comes down to shot selection more than anything for success, so just make one more ball than your opponents, and you’ll win the game,” he added.

Asked about the rapid growth of pickleball across Asia and America, with the number of non-professional players on the rise, Johns said, “It’s only five years in. The pro tour started in 2020. Just miraculous growth in every way.”

“Fans are super engaged, more networks [are] covering events, and more and more pro players, so on the circuit it’s more and more competitive. There’s also more selection of tournaments internationally. We’re going to Asia later this year. It’s been a very cool journey so far, and I’m just looking forward to all the things happening in pro pickleball,” he added.

Johns also said the engaging nature of pickleball is what attracts him the most. “There’s a lot of things about pickleball that are really engaging, but it was the same for me initially as it is for most people now, which is just that you can play with anybody and have a great time.”

“I started in a community where it was mostly elderly people, and I still enjoyed playing with them. I love to just meet new people, and I think that has continued—not just to be a sport for older people, but a sport for everybody. Anybody can play, and because of that, you meet a lot of people you wouldn’t otherwise meet in kind of your normal day-to-day lifestyle, so it’s just a very interesting sport in that it kind of brings a lot of people together from very different backgrounds,” he stated.

The 26-year-old does not have any immediate plans to stop, as he is at the peak of his career. Will he stop at 30? “We’ll see. I never plan my life out that far ahead. I’m just enjoying every day, every year one at a time. If I get to 30 and I’m just like, ‘You know what? I’ve had enough. It’s been fun,’ then sure. But if I still love it at that time, then I’ll keep going.”