Bruno Faletto joins Chris Beaumont on the World Pickleball Podcast to explain how he went from one of Chile’s leading junior tennis players to a corporate career in New York, before leaving the security of full-time employment for another attempt at professional sport.

Faletto was Chile’s No. 1 player in his age group and reached No. 8 in South America before a serious back injury interrupted his route towards professional tennis. He recovered to earn an ATP ranking, moved to the United States on a college scholarship and became a four-time NCAA Division II All-American at Saint Leo University.

After graduation, Faletto stopped competing and built a successful sales career in Manhattan. Pickleball was initially supposed to fill the sporting gap. It gradually became something he could no longer treat as a hobby.

In this episode, Faletto discusses:

• The back injury that changed his tennis career

• The financial reality of playing lower-level professional tennis

• Why he walked away from tennis while playing some of his best matches

• Discovering pickleball in New York in 2022

• Learning that power alone would not make him a professional player

• Combining APP tournaments and moneyball events with a full-time sales job

• Building a coaching business before leaving corporate employment

• How five or six hours on court each day changed his consistency and confidence

• Earning a PPA contract after his breakthrough 2026 season

• His technical weaknesses and the jump from Challenger events to established PPA opposition

• Representing the Grand River Rapids in the CNPL

• His ambition to represent Chile in international pickleball

• Preparing for fatherhood while building a professional sporting career

Faletto also explains the mental change that told him he was ready for the next level. Previously, at 9-9 in a deciding game, he found himself hoping the opponent would miss. Now he believes he will win the point himself.

Listen to the complete Bruno Faletto interview on the World Pickleball Podcast, hosted by World Pickleball Magazine’s Chris Beaumont.

A fuller Players’ Voice feature with Bruno Faletto will appear in the September edition of WPM.