Youssef Bouzidi still keeps a day job. The 51-year-old is a senior accountant in Roanoke, Virginia (WDBJ7, Aug 12, 2026), and on weekends he is one of the steadiest names in the APP’s AARP Champions (50+) division. When Radio IQ caught up with him in September, he was the top-ranked 50+ men’s singles player in the country, and his wife and daughter were, in his words, “not impressed, to be honest” (WVTF, Sep 9, 2026).
He grew up in Rabat, Morocco, about 50 yards from a tennis club. After a few ATP satellite and challenger events, he made a clear-eyed call: “I was honest with myself. I knew my limitations.” In 1995 he came to Radford University, played No. 1 all four years, and earned All-Big South honors in 1996, 1998 and 1999 (Cardinal News, Jun 5, 2026).
He stayed in Roanoke and went to work at the old Roanoke Athletic Club, now Carilion Wellness, where he has spent 26 years (Cardinal News, Jun 5, 2026). A few years in, he tried racquetball on the club’s courts and rose to the national top 10. When the facility closed for a couple of months in 2020, he turned to pickleball (WVTF, Sep 9, 2026; Cardinal News, Jun 5, 2026). “I’ve been waiting to turn 50 because that’s when the senior tour starts in pickleball,” he told WVTF.
The 2026 record backs that up without needing any decoration. He won Champions mixed doubles gold with Sheri Courter at the AARP Open in Seattle (APP, Mar 30, 2026). In Sacramento he took men’s singles and added men’s doubles with Dayne Gingrich (APP, May 4, 2026). He also won the U.S. Open Senior singles title in Naples (Cardinal News, Jun 5, 2026). This fall he left Overland Park with two golds (APP, Sep 20, 2026), then won another singles title at the APP Columbus Open, Oct 1–4 (APP, Oct 5, 2026).
What earns him props is how plainly he goes about it. He plays from the back of the court, the way he played tennis: “I play the same way as to play tennis, I stay baseline” (WVTF, Sep 9, 2026). His sponsor’s profile puts it simply: “He never shows any emotions while playing” (Engage Pickleball, Jul 14, 2025). He covers his own travel (“I pay for all my expenses”) (WVTF, Sep 9, 2026). His old Radford coach, Mike Anderson, watched his first pickleball match at a tournament in Clearwater, Florida, earlier this year and came away saying, “He is really liked by all these other pickleball players” (Cardinal News, Jun 5, 2026).
The APP Tour’s next stop is the Humana APP Louisville Open, Oct 15–18 (APP, Oct 5, 2026).