Pregnant athlete inspires at US pickleball tournament

Sabates is not only a member of the Heat team, but she also plays an important role in the starting lineup. On May 19, the American female tennis player took the field in a mixed doubles match.

What's special is that the American female athlete is 32 weeks pregnant but her running steps and hitting are still very flexible.

Despite being 32 weeks pregnant, Sabates still has flexible moves (Photo: The Dink).

According to the US newspaper The Dink, Sabates and his teammates took to the field to face the Ready to Drop duo, under 33-degree heat and the temperature of the field could have been hotter. But Sabates still finished the match in an unbelievable way.

Although she did not win, the female tennis player's performance inspired many others, especially the tournament organizers.

"An admirable spirit. However, MiLP does not encourage people to play pickleball while pregnant, but in Sabates' case, she was confident that she could play and we arranged a suitable match. Of course, fully medically guaranteed for that match," the MiLP homepage announced.

Sabates' story was later shared on social media and received a lot of praise, but some expressed concern about the American athlete's health, because she could be caught up in the match and not pay attention to her body.

Sabates (2nd from right) clearly showed her pregnant belly when taking a photo with her teammates at The Dink Minor League 2025 (Photo: The Dink).

MiLP is a tournament for amateur players with levels from 2.5 to 3.5, players who have not reached professional level but still want to compete in tournaments and improve their level to a new level.

DUPR 16 is the average score of a group of athletes on the DUPR rankings. The team score is calculated by summing the average scores of the athletes, then the organizers will pair teams with similar scores to compete together.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/van-dong-vien-mang-bau-truyen-cam-hung-tai-giai-dau-pickleball-o-my-20250521151921347.htm