From Big 4 to the Baseline: Agnes Fan’s Bold Pivot to Professional Pickleball

By SK Lee, Solomon Grey Capital

In Hong Kong’s high-stakes world of mergers and acquisitions, where deals worth billions hinge on precision and foresight, Agnes Fan was a rising star. Fresh out of the Big Four—where she honed her skills in audit and advisory—she joined the M&A team at CLP Holdings, the Kadoorie family’s flagship utility giant powering much of the Pearl River Delta. At 29, with a career trajectory mapped for corner offices and cross-border transactions, Fan embodied the city’s relentless drive. Yet, in October 2024, she walked away from it all to chase a different kind of net worth: dominance on the pickleball court.

Two years into the sport, Fan’s full-time commitment has already yielded dividends. Introduced by table tennis friends, she fell hard for pickleball’s blend of strategy, speed, and social spark. Her childhood mastery of table tennis—fostering lightning reflexes ideal for the “kitchen line” volleys—gave her an edge, though the larger court demanded a overhaul in footwork. Today, as a flagship pro for LIT TLP, Hong Kong’s pioneering pickleball powerhouse, Fan is not just playing the game; she’s investing in its exponential rise.

LIT TLP, the territory’s oldest and only professional pickleball club, stands as a testament to strategic reinvention. Acquired in 2025 by LIT Sports Global—a venture backed by TGG Group, Hong Kong’s forward-thinking family office—the club has evolved from a grassroots hub into Asia’s vanguard for pro-level play. With six of its athletes on Hong Kong’s national team winning silver at the recent World Cup for Pickleball in Florida, USA, LIT TLP isn’t just a club; it’s a launchpad for talent, projecting a 25% annual membership growth amid the sport’s regional surge.

Pickleball’s ascent in Hong Kong is no fluke—it’s a calculated bet on wellness and connectivity in a space-starved metropolis. Since 2023, the city has added over 12 public venues, vaulting it into the top 11 globally for pickleball search interest. Asia-wide, participation has ballooned 60% year-over-year, with 812,000 monthly players across 12 territories fueling a $1.2 billion equipment market (projected to hit $2.5 billion by 2030). In China alone, paddle sales have tripled in 2025, signaling spillover demand for Hong Kong’s border-hopping pros. For investors eyeing alternative assets, pickleball represents untapped alpha: media rights, branded academies, and franchise models akin to early tennis booms, with LIT Sports Global already scouting Japan expansions.

Fan’s trajectory underscores this momentum. Her breakthrough came in November 2024 at the PPA World Championships in the US, where she punched into the Main Draw (Round of 64) while juggling corporate deadlines—a feat she calls her “proudest underdog win.” Medals from World Pickleball Cup and Asia Pacific Games followed, catapulting her to PPA #33 in Asia and #101 globally in women’s doubles. Looking ahead, Fan targets top-10 Asian rankings and podiums at key 2026 events, including the PPA Tour Asia Hong Kong Open—fresh off its sold-out 2025 debut that drew 1,500 spectators.

As LIT TLP’s ambassador, Fan envisions the club as Hong Kong’s athletic exporter. “TLP is where I built my game and connected with the elite,” she says. “Winning for them proves you can scale excellence here—without endless space or seasons.” In five years, she sees herself headlining Asian tours, with pickleball claiming 50 dedicated Hong Kong courts and 100,000 local players, up from today’s nascent 5,000. Globally, the sport’s 40 million participants (a 223% jump since 2020) hint at billionaire-scale ecosystems, from DUPR-rated leagues to Agassi-endorsed academies.

For Solomon Grey Capital readers, Fan’s story is a microcosm of asymmetric opportunity: low-entry barriers yielding high-yield returns in health, media, and exports. In a city that thrives on reinvention, Agnes Fan isn’t just swapping suits for sneakers—she’s serving up the next big play. Watch this space; the volleys are only getting fiercer.