What is pickleball and why is it the next big sporting craze in Canberra?

According to pickleball coach Robbie Manzano, it already is, and Canberra is not immune to its rise.

"Over six months we now have over 200 pickleball players participating over three sessions a week, so we've only just touched the surface," Manzano said.

"Pickleball only recently started blowing up last year, and it's been really busy all around Australia.

"It's growing quickly. It's massive in the US and in the big states in Australia, but it's only really hit Canberra last year."

Manzano has been blown away by the participation in the capital, with Canberra's biggest tennis name Nick Kyrgios even getting in on the action.

"I coach his mum, dad, and his sister and they're doing it every week, and he came down on the first session," Manzano said.

"He loves it and I'm sure he'll be heavily invested. It'd be awesome if he came down a little bit more, but he's obviously got his tennis commitments still."

It shouldn't be too much of a surprise the Kyrgios clan are getting involved, after all the Australian Open men's doubles champion is among the celebrity investors in the Miami Pickleball Club in the Major League Pickleball competition in the US, along with Patrick Mahomes and Naomi Osaka.

Manzano will be one of two ACT players set to compete in the National Pickleball League running between March and June in Sydney and Melbourne, with 18 teams vying for a $100,000 prize pool that includes a top prize of $50,000.

It makes the pair the first Canberrans to enter a professional pickleball competition.

The sport was invented in the 1960s in the US and is a mix of traditional tennis, badminton and table tennis, but with rules and equipment that give it broad appeal to young and old, of varying skill levels.

The courts and paddles are smaller, the ball is light with holes in it, and you can't hit the ball on the full in the front part of the court, which rewards tactical movement rather than speed and strength.

"It's a simplified sport for most people to pick up at all ages, and it's going to be in the Olympics - it's just a matter of time," Manzano said.

"There aren't enough countries that play at the moment, but it's the fastest growing sport in the world and there's a bit of money behind it too.

"If the celebrities are playing and all those Major League Pickleball teams are getting franchised, the sport is only going to get stronger.

"It's really in its infancy, and already a lot of big tennis players are starting to move over to pickleball like Jack Sock and Eugenie Bouchard."