Meet Rosie Johanson, the UVA Tennis Star Turned Pickleball Singles Threat
In her relatively short time on the pro tour, Rosie Johanson has bested some of the top names in pickleball. Like many other pros, Rosie comes from a high-level tennis background.
A peek into that background – and the challenges she’s overcome – sheds light on a ferociously determined competitor, and someone we should all be keeping an eye on.
An International Powerhouse
As a kid born in England, Rosie moved to British Columbia, Canada at the age of 8. A tennis fanatic, the thud of the ball could be heard hitting the side of her parents’ house seven days a week, morning and night. Rosie says that people who know her know that she is an all or nothing person who pours her heart and soul into everything she does. This was evident from the moment she picked up a tennis racquet, and it has not changed in the nearly two decades since.
It was this all or nothing attitude that drove her to leave home at the age of 14 to train for tennis full-time, eventually becoming a four-time Junior Nationals champion in doubles and singles.
It was this all or nothing attitude that earned her a full scholarship to the University of Virginia, where she finished her senior season a Doubles All-American, partnered with Emma Navarro (who notably just played in the Wimbledon quarterfinals this week!).
And it was this all or nothing attitude that allowed her to come back from a life-changing spinal surgery – a surgery that her surgeon warned her would likely end her tennis career. (Spoiler alert: it did not).
A New Racquet Sport
Rosie was introduced to pickleball in December 2020, and – like so many others – was hooked immediately. At the time, however, she was in the thick of her collegiate tennis career, competing in her fifth year for UVA, with little time or energy to dedicate to anything else, let alone a competing racquet sport.
Despite the immediate intrigue, Rosie didn’t pick the paddle up again until she had graduated and closed the chapter on her college tennis career. All or nothing.
At first, Rosie faced that all-familiar judgment and teasing from her tennis friends. Pickleball?? But what they didn’t understand was that pickleball was her way to scratch that deeply-ingrained competitive itch, while still being kind to her body. A body that had faced spinal surgery only three years prior, leaving her using a walking frame to walk and re-learning the basic movements that had once been second nature to her.
Over the course of six months post-surgery, Rosie relearned to squat, run, change direction, serve, and – eventually - play tennis again. Just 10 months after the surgery that surgeons said would end her athletic career, Rosie was playing in her first tennis tournament back. And she finished her collegiate tennis career playing the best tennis of her life. All or nothing.
Any time spent on a court after December 2018 would be time Rosie would never take for granted. And so when she had the opportunity to start playing pickleball post-college, you better believe it was all or nothing.
After graduating from UVA with her Masters in Educational Psychology, Rosie spent the summer of 2021 looking for a job, while also playing many, many, many hours of pickleball. Thankfully, pickleball pro Meg Charity lived in Charlottesville, Virginia, at the time, and became Rosie’s training and – eventually – competition partner. Meg taught Rosie everything ... dinking, stacking, tactics, ATPs, and Ernies (Meg’s specialty).
Rosie was immediately drawn to singles. It felt similar enough to tennis that she could feel comfortable, yet knew enough that the learning and improvement kept her coming back for more. The first six times Rosie played Meg in practice matches she did not win a point. Not one single point.
Until one day Meg asked, “Do you want me to give you a hint?” Rosie wanted to figure it out on her own, but not as badly as she wanted to win. She reluctantly said yes, prompting Meg to share some pickleball-specific adjustments that transformed Rosie’s approach to the game. From there, her pace of improvement was exponential.
Rosie quickly began signing up for professional pickleball tournaments with Meg, but where she really excelled was in singles. Rosie’s first singles tournament was the APP Franklin NYC Open, held at Flushing Meadows, a venue she had dreamed of playing as a junior tennis player. The irony was not lost on her that it was pickleball – not tennis – that was making this dream a reality.
In the first round, Rosie drew Jorja Johnson. She was nervous before the match, but Meg helped calm her nerves by telling her, “Play tennis. You love tennis, and you’re pretty good at it, too. Just go out there and play tennis!”
It worked! Rosie’s groundstrokes, very tennis-like, carried her through a hard-fought three-set match against Jorja. The victory gave Rosie the confidence to keep training and competing.
Rosie put in the hours to master the nuances where pickleball differs from tennis: the patience of a dink war; learning to come to the net, which came much less naturally to her. In between tournaments, Meg and Rosie would train together, drilling every evening after work, rain or shine; doing workouts together; and watching and analyzing every pro match they could find on the internet.
The training paid off. Rosie made it to the podium in the very next tournament she entered, taking home a bronze at the APP LA Open. Since then, Rosie has seen singles victories over some of the biggest names in the game, including Anna Bright, Mary Brascia, Brooke Buckner and Lea Jansen, and has seen multiple top-four finishes since.
In the spring of 2023, she was drafted as the second overall pick, behind Canadian great, Steve Deakin, for the Canadian equivalent of MLP.
Despite these results and the strong promise shown, Rosie’s professional pickleball career has been limited due to her immigration status as a Canadian citizen. She has not competed in a professional tournament since May 2023, because she has been in the process of applying for a visa that would allow her to work and play professional pickleball in this country.
In the meantime, Rosie has continued to compete in open events and has been training to stay sharp – waiting for the day she can jump back into action on the pro tour.
Jason Flamm
Pickleball is fast-becoming a global sport, but for now, the greatest opportunities for players are in the United States. For this reason, the sport has seen a lot of interest from international pros working for visas that would enable them to play professionally in the U.S. Some of the top pros in the world are international, including Federico Staksrud, Catherine Parenteau, Dekel Bar, and Lucy Kovalova. Rosie is looking to join these names at the top of the professional rankings and represent Canada in the sport we all love.
