HIS name is Zack Munoz. But the growing circle of pickleball players in the country knows him by his sobriquet — Zack Attack.

At 73 years old, Zack may well be the poster boy for senior Filipino PIMPs, as dedicated pickleball players label themselves. PIMP stands for Pickleball Is My Passion.

Zack has been a fixture at amateur pickleball tournaments in the US and other countries where the sport is fast catching on. And the 50 or so medals and trophies he has racked up is a sign that he's no stranger to podium finishes.

Last year, he was ranked No. 1 in the US among amateur pickleballers in the 70-year-old bracket.

Zack, who's based in Chicago, Illinois, is spending a few weeks in Manila on a brief break. I pinned him down for an interview while he was playing with friends at the Tiendesitas courts in Pasig City.

His pickleball odyssey began after he moved to the US from Manila in 1982. The relocation was on a whim. "I joined three friends who wanted to try their luck in the US. They flunked the US Embassy interview. I passed."

He eventually settled in Chicago, where he worked as a systems administrator for mainframe computers. He retired in 2017 at age 65.

Remarkably, Zack got into pickleball when he was already 69. Before that, tennis was his game. "One day, a former tennis buddy who had shifted to pickleball after his knees began to give coaxed me to try it. I thought, why not."

Because the strokes, principles and strategies were practically the same, Zack's transition from tennis to pickleball was seamless. In no time, he was beating not only his buddy but regular pickleballers as well.

After just two months, he joined his first tournament and clinched the singles title.

"My opponent, who was several levels higher than I was, was leading 9-6, but I rallied and beat him, 11-9," Zack says.

A regular pickleball game is a race to 11 points. If the score is tied at 10, the player who gets the next two points wins.

Soon Zack was competing at amateur pickleball tournaments around the US. It didn't take long before he was doing the rounds in Asia.

In Bali, Indonesia, last September, he won the gold medal in the 60-plus advanced level in singles and the silver in the 60-plus mixed doubles.

Before that, he bagged two silvers at the Asian Open in Thailand — for singles and doubles in the 50-plus bracket.

During a visit to Manila in 2019, Zack partnered with Armand Tantoco, now the president of the Philippine Pickleball Federation, to take the men's doubles crown.

He also found the time to hold pickleball clinics in communities where the sport was beginning to take root.

Not bad for someone who was born with a right clubfoot. As a toddler, Zack could hardly walk. It took daily massages by his father to slowly align the foot to its normal shape.

By the time Zack was five, he was mobile enough to walk, run and jump with the rest of the boys.

Today Zack's right foot is smaller than the left. "I have to wear four socks to be able to fit the same shoe size for my left foot," he says.

That does not seem to be a handicap at all when he grinds down players 10 or even 20 years his junior during pick-up matches.

"I rely mainly on placement," he says. "I apply power sometimes, but mainly it's placement."

He admits that younger Filipino pickleballers have vastly improved their game and that it's more difficult going up against them.

That doesn't stop him from taking on anybody, especially when a friendly bet is involved.

A foreigner, apparently eager to test Zack's mettle, once challenged him. "How about the loser treat everybody to dinner?" Zack said. The man agreed, and ended up buying burgers for everyone.

"I like to push myself as a player. Winning motivates me," Zack says.

The victory that he cherishes most is a "trifecta" — sweeping the singles, mixed and men's doubles titles in one tournament.

Zack has scored two trifectas in his career. The first was in 2021 in Indiana, and the second during the 2023 APP national indoor pro-am tournament for 50-plus seniors in Rosemont, Illinois.

He says the Indiana tournament was "easier for me to win because there were few participants due to Covid."

The interview comes to an abrupt end when someone invites Zack to play singles. He picks up his paddle and walks onto the court.

The Zack Attack is about to strike again.