Jay Devilliers Is Heading to Naples — With Plans to Help Build Pickleball’s Best Academy

Jay Devilliers is taking on a new challenge, and it doesn't involve chasing another professional pickleball title.

The longtime professional is joining the USOP National Pickleball Center in Naples, Florida, as Director of The Academy, an ambitious new training program scheduled to officially launch November 16.

He'll work alongside Executive Director Justin Romero, who has established a straightforward but lofty goal: build the best pickleball academy in the world.

For a facility already synonymous with the US Open Pickleball Championships, it's another step toward becoming a year-round destination for player development.

Several events featuring Devilliers are planned ahead of the November launch, offering players an early look at the instruction and programming that will eventually be available at the Naples facility.

More Than the Home of the US Open

The National Pickleball Center is best known as the longtime home of the US Open Pickleball Championships.

The Naples facility features 65 courts, with additional expansion planned, and the 2026 US Open attracted more than 3,800 amateur and professional players, more than 60,000 spectators, and roughly 6,000 matches over eight days.

But the organization's plans for Naples increasingly extend beyond one massive week in April.

Pickleball 4 America, which owns the US Open and operates the National Pickleball Center in partnership with Collier County, has talked openly about turning the venue into a year-round pickleball destination.

In an interview with Inside the Den earlier this year, US Open President Ben Weinberger explained the organization's broader strategy of creating year-round opportunities for players without attempting to replicate a professional tour:

“We’re not trying to be a pro tour with some 52 events a year — what we’re trying to do is have year-round opportunities for playing, training, leveling up, participating in leagues and clinics. We think what lifts the sport up is the amateur, and we can do that 365 days a year here in an incredibly focused way.” Ben Weinberger, President of the US Open.

The academy has become an important piece of that vision.

And the person charged with building much of it is Romero.

Who Is Justin Romero?

Romero arrived in Naples with a background that is unusual even within pickleball.

Before taking over the National Pickleball Center, he spent 13 years at Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, eventually serving as Director of Racquet Sports at one of Florida's most prominent private clubs. Pickleball 4 America appointed him Executive Director of the National Pickleball Center in early 2025.

Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Romero was a nationally ranked collegiate tennis player before eventually becoming a professional pickleball player himself. He is RSPA certified, a member of the Directors Club of America, and was named the 2024 RSPA Regional Pro of the Year.

But perhaps more relevant to what he's trying to build in Naples is what happened during his years at Ocean Reef.

Romero didn't simply inherit a mature pickleball operation there. He has said that he started the club's pickleball program, gradually building it while simultaneously learning the business side of running a high-end racquet-sports operation.

He also developed a connection to Naples long before taking his current job.

Romero said earlier this year that he had been bringing Ocean Reef members to the US Open for approximately eight years and had personally competed in the event throughout that period.

Justin Romero at the 2026 US Open, in Naples, Florida

When the opportunity eventually came to run the National Pickleball Center, the relationship already existed.

"I always had a tie to this place," Romero said in a February interview with CourtReserve.

Romero went from managing the racquet program at a private club to overseeing an operation with 65 courts, thousands of members and one of the most recognizable locations in pickleball.

He has described the job as encompassing virtually every part of the facility: memberships, instruction, programming, tournaments, leagues and the pro shop.

"NPC is focused on our members enjoying the great sport of pickleball, whether that's open play, leagues, tournaments, lessons, clinics or a friendly game with family and friends. The Academy is the next step. With Jay leading it and pros like Anna Leigh Waters joining, we're setting a high bar from day one." - Justin Romero, Executive Director of the USOP National Pickleball Center

Enter Jay Devilliers

Bringing Devilliers into the project makes sense on several levels.

"I've spent my career studying and coaching what separates good players from great ones. At The Academy, we will examine each player's game, build a plan for improvement, execute that plan and measure progress with technology, video analysis, ball tracking, and results. One session at a time." - Jay Devilliers, Director of The Academy at the National Pickleball Center.

Before becoming one of professional pickleball's most recognizable players, Devilliers spent years inside traditional tennis-development systems.

Born near Paris, France, Devilliers left home as a teenager and moved to Barcelona to attend a tennis academy, spending approximately three years training there before eventually coming to the United States to play Division I tennis at Wichita State.

At Wichita State, Devilliers reached career-high ITA rankings of No. 86 in singles and No. 26 in doubles. He also served as a hitting partner at the tennis US Open in 2017 and 2018.

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His introduction to pickleball came shortly afterward.

In 2019, Devilliers became the pickleball director at Chicken N Pickle in Wichita and entered his first professional event at that year's US Open in Naples, reaching the singles quarterfinals.

By 2020, he had committed to professional pickleball full time.

What followed was one of the more successful careers of pickleball's modern era.

Devilliers has reached a career-high No. 2 on the PPA Tour in both singles and mixed doubles and No. 5 in men's doubles, while also reaching No. 1 on the APP Tour in singles. His personal site credits him with more than 75 combined PPA and APP medals.

He also conducts pickleball camps internationally and leads Smash Pickleball Academy in Toulouse, France.

And there is another Naples connection.

Earlier this year, Devilliers partnered with Anna Leigh Waters to win the 2026 US Open mixed doubles championship on the very courts where he will now help teach.

Jay Devilliers (L) and Anna Leigh Waters (R) won the 2026 US Open mixed doubles championship. Courtesy US Open.

What Could a World-Class Pickleball Academy Look Like?

Pickleball has plenty of camps and clinics, but developing a comprehensive training academy requires more than offering lessons.

The traditional tennis academy model combines structured instruction, consistent coaching, individualized player development, physical training and performance analysis.

Both Devilliers and Romero bring relevant experience to that challenge.

Devilliers experienced the traditional academy model firsthand in Barcelona, while Romero spent more than a decade working within the structured racquet-sports environment at Ocean Reef.

Together, they now have 65 courts and one of pickleball's most recognizable venues as the foundation for their vision.

Who is The Academy For?

• Top-level players refining their game or getting into tournament shape
• Advanced juniors ages 8–18, committed to accelerating their development
• Competitive players ready to take their game to the next level

What Will The Academy Offer?

• Small-group clinics 
• Private and semi-private instruction
• Fitness and recovery programming
• Video and performance analysis to track progress

The National Pickleball Center was already signaling this direction before Devilliers' arrival. Pickleball 4 America's leadership said in 2025 that it wanted the academy to eventually make Naples a preeminent training destination for recreational players as well as future tournament players.

For Devilliers, the opportunity brings his pickleball career full circle.

Seven years after making his professional debut at the US Open in Naples, he returns as a major champion and one of the sport's most recognizable players, this time with an entirely different assignment.

The National Pickleball Center has already established Naples as one of pickleball's premier tournament destinations.

Now, with Devilliers helping lead the way, Romero is attempting to make it one of the sport's premier training destinations, too.