Tried Pickleball and picked it up very quickly because I play tennis. I love tennis because it is do demanding and challenging. Especially the serve. You might think I'm weird but for the last three years I've written down a record of every practice serve I've done. 64,395 serve to date. And it's only in the last 3 months ' because I now have a high level coach - have I realized that I've really got to change my whole service action if I want a really good serve. Something I'm really excited about working on. It's precisely because tennis, and the serve in particular, is so challenging that the rewards and sense of achievement is so great. Pickleball was fun but you can't beat tennis. Effort is rewarding in itself. I'm 72 years old and I'm on a tennis court virtually every day. I adore the sport and the mental and physical demands it makes on my body and my mind. It helps prevent me - to quote the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas 'NOT 'to go gently into that good night'. Tony Costa. Wales. UK
All my respect to you !!!! I think reflects the society, people want to achieve quickly results, while you're a v hard working and organized person . I think how Nikola says(absolutely I agree 100% what he says) pickleball is a fun game etc but I believe tennis is way more demanding from every aspect. Also something should be done with the annoying noise that hitting a pickleball makes(a different type of ball ?) ..was teaching tennis next to a group playing it..I let you experience that ..!!!!
@@Better_Call_Raul I broke my habit when I realized that the service motion is (almost) the same as throwing a ball. Hold the handle, pretend it is a ball, windup by twisting and taking your shoulder back, and throw (but don't let go!). Like a baseball pitcher. Your shoulder, arm, and wrist automatically rotate with power. Then later I tuned it for tennis! (sorry Nic just a tip for the feel!)
I think we people have become used to receiving everything we want instantly (information, food, fun) so to some extent we have forgotten how to be patient and really put in the effort until things start to pay off. This translates into sports as well: tennis takes so much time, work and patience to learn that many people are not willing to invest so much into it. Pickleball is so popular right now because people are seeking instant gratification and fun in a sport without having to think too much about learning moves and building a technique as it is with tennis. I recently picked up tennis and I love it.
As a tennis player who converted to PB, I completely agree. I find PB to just be more fun, and it was also a lot easier to entice my kids and their buddies to play with me. You don't really need lessons or drills like you do with tennis. You just play, and get better from playing. That said, I do agree that its good to have a sport where you have to drill and practice. My kids get that from other sports (mostly basketball, but also gymnastics and martial arts). PB - we just have fun.
I disagree to some extent. I don't think tennis has to be that difficult. Give someone an oversized racquet, and let them hit the ball the way they want. if they are athletic and have played some ping pong, pickleball or racquet ball, they should begin to do well after just a few months of play. They are not going to beat solid players who have played for ten years, but they will hold their own in a doubles match, or even a 3.5 singles match. Provided you let them figure out for themselves how they are going to hold the racquet and hit the ball.
Here in Italy and as I understand in Europe in general it's the exact same thing with padel for I believe the same reasons, easier to pick up, less ground to cover and maybe just the fact that it's a new thing. In my opinion tennis is the most fascinating sport out of the bunch, you can play it for a lifetime and you'll still find something new to the game or something you've been doing wrong your whole life. It's super technical, extremely hard to master, but for some people, me included, the harder the challenge, the more I get frustrated, the more I want to play it
I'm in my mid-60s and playing tennis regularly has kept me fit and healthy, and I often play much younger players. I understand why it's easier for older people with physical issues to play pickleball, but tennis is THE best sport for staying young.
Like others here, I'm a lifelong tennis player (now 62), and absolutely love the sport, but let's face it, tennis is NOT easy, at least not easy to do well, but I see no point in being a snob about pickleball. I don't intend to take up the sport until I can no longer chase down a tennis ball, but people want fun and exercise, and pickleball provides that. I'd say congratulations to the picklers, and let's learn what we can from them. I know they always welcome newcomers and are ready to lend gear to the newcomers. Tennis needs programs in the parks and the schools to get folks interested. It's still not going to be easy, but it can be fun. No doubt pickelball is pulling tennis players over onto the smaller court, so maybe we need to make some effort to attract some of the picklers to try tennis.
Almost all Professional Pickleball Association players on the pro circuit are ex-tennis players. It's almost impossible to make pro in tennis, but switching to pickleball they can at least live off the sport.
That's unfair. Tennis worked its ass off to have courts built over the years. Along comes pickleball and just arrogantly take over tennis courts without paying one dime into it. Schmucks.
7:30 you nailed my early tennis experiences. You watch Wimbledon each summer and think 'oh yeah, tennis'. You go out with a friend and three balls. Neither of you is any good. You can't maintain a rally. Balls go everywhere. You get frustrated and give up for another year. Having a lesson with a coach who had a bucket of 50 balls to keep constantly feeding at me was a revelation. I could actually practice hitting the ball properly.
One of my friends used to play short court with the green junior balls as a warmup and he was a 5.0 level player. It’s great for beginners to learn tennis technique while having all the same qualities that people like about pickleball
The U.S. needs a #1 men's player to get interest back And we also need more media coverage of tennis at the national and local level, especially during the standard evening news sportscast.
I grew up in the 70s and 80s and tennis was huge. At my country club on Saturday morning if you were a junior you could not get a court. The adults took up all of the courts. Now Saturday mornings the tennis courts are a ghost town.
Tennis is a very particular sport, it requires a large court, fancy equipment, is really difficult to play (even basic rallying), is very demanding physically (if you want to play it semi-decently) and has a very steep learning curve. Oh and now that we have these superior poly strings (superior in terms of spin), they also need to be changed more often which poses other problems. I really understand why something more approachable like pickleball is coming up... (and I say that as something who has playing tennis since being 9 years old)
Tennis is not dying, because I feel more people might play Pickle ball as a recreational activity, and most people play tennis for getting good and competing. Plus, Pickle ball will never outdo Tennis on TV which means that Tennis players will get paid more, which will encourage kids to chose a career path of tennis.
Tennis I can play for hours because of its high skill level, pickleball while fun can only keep my interest for about 30 minutes because of the low skill level.
@@TimTheMusicMan Professional tennis players are athletic outside of tennis. And watch some 9f those traditional athletes play tennis. It is horrific how bad people are at tennis which suggests it does actually have a pretty high level.
@@TimTheMusicMan I don't understand what you're saying. The existence of millions of bad tennis players doesn't mean that becoming good at tennis requires lots of effort and athleticism. Nadal, Federer, Djokovic are not athletic you say???
@@TimTheMusicMan At competitive levels of tennis, the best tennis players are just as athletic as the best MLB or NFL players. If we are talking about Tom Brady at 44 years old, he's still one of the most valuable players at the NFL level but probably loses a foot race to Nadal much less guys like Monfils. If we're talking about Pitchers or Sluggers in the MLB, same argument can be made about traditional features of athlecisim like strength, agility, speed, and quickness. At the amateur level you have a diluted player base because people who otherwise would not participate in sports end up playing in the park on the weekend or showing up to their local clubs to be social. If you only take people at the same age ranges who play USTA against people who play rec league organized basketball, the results would likely be a bit more similar.
"Intuitive Pickleball" coming up :D funny that tennis is now threatened while it has turned into a sport as easy to learn as ever before. Raquets are perfect nowadays. courts are better and you have more variety. Tennis is more attractive than ever before
One other thing that I didn't hear you mention that is helping to fuel the sport is how easy it is to set up a temporary pickleball court. Portable nets are very cheap and do a pretty good job. We can set up a temporary pickleball court on any flat surface in minutes. It can be a gym, a parking lot, or just a wide driveway. Grass is difficult - but not impossible (with a foam ball). It's kind of like soccer in that respect - it doesn't take a lot of expensive infrastructure to throw a game together. And once people get hooked on the game, the support for permanent facilities follows. I'm not sure what this means for the sport of tennis - but I suspect it will find a way to persevere. It's been around for a long time for a reason.
I agree, as long as the tennis courts are seeing use. If there are tennis courts that are going unused 90% of the time and people that want to play pickleball, the courts should be changed.
Exactly. I don’t have a problem with soccer because soccer players don’t take over other facilities. Pickleball is the only sport that destroys other sports facilities.
You may be right, Nick. I had been noticing chalk lines drawn for pickle ball on our city courts and yesterday when I went to practice, pickle ball lines had been painted on one of the courts. I still love playing tennis at 70 and I'm playing tennis until I can't play anymore.
Hey Nik! Im happy to report that my local park in Los Angeles does frequently have a line of people waiting for the four tennis courts at peak hours! Tennis till the end! ;)
The pickleball community is (on the whole) more welcoming to new players. Groups of players show up at public pickleball courts and rotate through, playing with multiple random partners over the course of a couple of hours of play, which creates a sense of community among the players. Higher level players often play down to help foster player development of lower level players. In many places where people are playing pickleball, you can walk up to a court and people will invite you to try it, they put a paddle in your hand and put you on the court. Tennis players don't look like they are having fun. Pickleball courts are boisterous with laughter and cheering. Pickleball also lends itself to much more finesse than tennis, especially in doubles. Men and women, young and old, can play competitively against each other because players don't have as much real estate to cover. Placement is much more important than power. It's often compared to a game of chess. These are some of the reasons pickleball is growing so quickly.
Here is a solution to help tennis gain popularity. Adopt the pickleball community play model, where people rotate through, where experienced players help newer players, and where people are welcomed to play when they wander over to the courts.
Agree. My first PB experience at community centre was so inviting, not like my experience at my tennis club, which isn’t bad, but not as a community feeling.
This summer, my club added some pickle ball courts (in Canada). They didn't get rid of tennis courts, just added a couple pickle ball courts. I played quite a few times and it was super fun. I don't think it's necessarily as much of a sedentary sport that some people think. You can definitely move the ball around and use the majority of the court. If you and your appointment are good, there can be a lot of sprinting and exercise in the sport. I think it's a very fun sport, though I have not personally noticed it's been taking over or killing the sport of tennis which is my first love.
In Argentina we had a huge padel fad in the 90s, for us it's a 90s stereotype the same way disco music is a late 70s stereotype. It died in the late 90s, completely dead by the early 2000s. Perhaps because in the early 2000s we suddenly had many good tennis players that were ranked in the top 30 (coria, nalbandian, gaudio, canas, calleri, chela, zabaleta etc), but I think it was dying even before that. Perhaps all it would take for this to die in the USA is one very good male American tennis player making kids want to play tennis
Im from Florianopolis, Brazil, where lots of Argentinians come in the summer, and I remember they loved paddle, hotels built courts for them, everytime we saw someone playing we knew they were hermanos hehe but they played tennis too!
In the USA we already have the best PB players in the world. If the money in PB gets good, you might see everyone abandon the tennis ship, and switch to PB. I don't think PB will die here in the states, because it's much more inclusive and fun for the seniors. I can play PB five times a week, but tennis only two or three, or my neck acts up too much!
I played tennis for a long time. I still love tennis although I spend way more time playing pickleball. I’m a believer that both sports can and should coexist. This video talks about about pickleball’s shorter learning curve as part of its attraction, and yes that’s true. But what isn’t mentioned is the pickleball community’s culture vs tennis culture. Pickleball’s governing body in the US, USA Pickleball, has done an amazing job with advocating the sport with their ambassador program, introducing the game to new players at a grassroots level, while justifying needs with municipal parks & rec departments for places to play pickleball, some of these places are under-utilized tennis courts repurposed for pickleball. What has the USTA done to attract new players? I don’t see any USTA ambassadors out there getting new people to give tennis a try at the same rate as pickleball. Also, pickleball players love sharing the sport with other people, especially people who have never heard of the game, or even with people they see watching them play. Pickleball players always have extra paddles and often lend them to new players so they can give the game a try. New players feel more welcomed when the sport is more approachable. Tennis isn’t often perceived as being approachable. Tennis culture is perceived as “clubby”, “elitist”, “snobby”, etc… and many of the comments here kind of support these perceptions, implying that pickleball is inferior to tennis. Yes, pickleball has a shorter learning curve, but like tennis, is still difficult to master. Not having to organize a partner and/or opponents to play with is another plus for pickleball. Just show up and you’re in the rotation with whoever is there. It’s mixed level friendly. The games are short, unlike having to play a set of tennis. And that makes it fun for everyone. Tournament wise, the entire bracket is completed in a day, and it’s double elimination, so you know you’re playing at least 2 matches. The pro pickleball tournament associations PPA and APP have divisions for amateur players(skill level based like NTRPs), and that inclusivity makes it attractive to participate in pickleball tournaments. Unless you’re a pro tennis player, I doubt many of you have played in an ATP or WTA tournament. So I agree with the video that if you don’t want tennis courts to be repurposed for pickleball, they need to be utilized frequently for tennis. But to add, don’t just be a tennis player, be an ambassador for tennis, too. Invest the time to introduce tennis to new people, help them feel more comfortable and welcome. Loan your backup racket to a stranger. Tennis is a beautiful game… share it with people. And there’s no need to be adversarial with pickleball. Pickleball isn’t a threat to tennis. Both sports will be around for a long time. Nothing wrong with playing both sports. Many people do, and say the tennis and pickleball complement each other. ua-cam.com/video/Y2a1BK4wBCM/v-deo.html
Due to the simplicity of pickleball, it is easier to find players of "close enough" skill level. Also... I don't know if it is a universal standard, but when there is a pickleball wait line where I live, the court etiquette is to play to 11 then rotate out and you get back in line - so more people get to play... and you get beer breaks :-) But I love tennis too and don't want it to decline.
Crazy lines to get on tennis courts here in NYC. My neighborhood has some of the only public courts under lights and people regularly wait 2 hours to get on after dark. I guess we are lucky the courts are well loved/ unlucky it can be hard to get time!
Yeah, any big US city if you try to play in the evening after work you will hit major lines. I think the situation in south Florida is distorted a bit by the high percentage of retirees.
Same in Raleigh, NC. Had to go to three different venues to try to get in a league match last week because of people waiting everywhere. Even at the third one, had to wait an hour for a court to open up. Here, they're not building dedicated pickleball courts (at least not that I've seen), but they are striping a lot of the tennis courts to allow pickleball games.
My brother and I used to play tennis in high school. I recently got back into it because I wanted to get back into shape and be more active. Sadly, my brother only plays pickleball now, except when I come into town.
5:51 there are 4 courts within walking distance of my house. When I go over there its probably a 20% chance I can get a space right away. There are almost always people waiting to play.
As a kid, I played a lot of tennis. I probably was a 4.5 tennis player (maybe a bit better at singles, a bit worse at doubles) at my peak. As an adult, I play pickleball. I taught my kids to play PB, and have also taught some of my kids friends. This video is correct that PB is easier to learn. When I taught the kids to play, I taught them mainly strategy and shot selection. They largely taught themselves stroke mechanics just from playing. With tennis, you really want to put the time in drilling stroke mechanics and receiving guidance from an instructor. I was lucky to get some lessons and have access to a ball machine as a kid, and that helped my tennis game tremendously. But also, I was motivated as a kid to put in my homework, and tennis was the main sport I played. My kids and their friends play other sports. They are mostly basketball players. They receive instruction and practice drills for basketball. PB - they only play games. They are always competing when they play PB and thus its always fun. The other point you're missing - when we play PB, the play is fast. We hit the ball hard, and try to hit each other. We bounce the ball off each other all the time, and we never, ever apologize for hitting someone with the ball. The ball is lightweight and safe and made of plastic, so it doesn't hurt. We also "dink" (hit drop shots) but the dink rallies are like a suspenseful movie. We are just waiting for a ball high enough to smash. Then we typically smash it right at someones paddle-side shoulder, or bounce it off their feet. Some players are so good at returning smashes that the most reliable way to end the point is to smash it into their body. For us, this is just more fun. The other "fast" aspect of PB is how quickly the points reset. Just watch people play tennis, and keep track of how long the delay is between points, and how short the points are. Then look at people playing PB. The rallies last longer, and the delay in between points is shorter. This is, for me, a huge difference. When I play PB, I have so much more fun than tennis, because so much more of my time is spent actually playing. The kids see this advantage as well. Bear in mind - I put in my reps with tennis. I had two friends who played college level tennis who would rally with me, because I had the pure groundstrokes and could give them quality rallies. But I still find PB to have more real "playing time" because there is only one serve, the serve is almost always in, and you can always "reset" a rally with a dink. Thank you for this respectful and mostly accurate video. My only correction is "why do kids like it". For three reasons. 1) it is easy to learn (as you say). 2) It is fun and safe to speed the ball up and hit people with the ball 3) There is very little downtime. You are always playing.
@@joemarshall4226 The culture is more welcoming, for sure. Do tennis "open drop ins" even exist? I just went to an open drop in with two teenagers. Both of this kids played a lot of PB during the pandemic and got pretty good, but they've played maybe a dozen times between them over the last 6 months. This drop in had retired folks who play PB maybe 250-300 days a year and are super serious about it. But they welcomed my kids with open arms! The kids got beat a fair bit, but they pulled off a few wins too. But the best part was this one guy in his late 60s, just putting his arm around my son after delivering a beat down and telling him "you're doing just great, keep playing!". Does that happen in tennis? Not from what I saw. People just want to stay in their cliques and play people at their narrow level. My son and his buddy didn't really give this guy and his friend a very competitive game, but they didn't have any problem with it and just used it as a "let me coach you" opportunity. We're going back tomorrow, because kids love that sort of thing.
@@PeterCacioppi I agree 100%. It reminds me of my childhood, growing up on the streets of Brooklyn. You could go to the park, and get in to a basketball game, a baseball game on a softball diamond (no pitching, you just threw it up and hit it), a paddle ball game )on a handball court), or whatever. You chose p sides, and you played. Everybody got a chance. Of course older people love it when youngsters show up. I played a lot of street sports as a kid, and played Little League baseball and basketball. Then I tried tennis when I was 14 with an old wood racquet....I couldn't hit the ball! It was frustrating, so I gave it up. Then when I got to be about 22 I tired it a couple fo times with one friend who knew how to play. I did better. The big breakthrough came when I was about 30 and they invented the oversize racket.....now I could hit the ball consistently on both sides, and mishits often turned into winners, since I sliced a lot. The fact that I played some ping pong in college really helped. Without that, i would have been lost. I think PB will actually bring MORE people to tennis. Once they get some basic racquet skills, they will want to try the other racquet sports, like squash, ping pong, or tennis. Trying tennis without previous racquet experience is really tough.
@@joemarshall4226 I grew up in Vermont, and was inept at basketball. I played pee wee hockey and then skiied in winters. By Vermont standards I was weak sauce at both, but by flatlander standards I was a skilled skater and skiier. I played tennis in the spring, summer and fall, and was decent at it. I always envied the "just show up" culture of basketball, and wished there was a tennis equivalent. Then PB basically made my wish come true. I eat a fair bit of crow getting beat in doubles by people I could probably dominate in singles (tennis background and I'm decently fit) but its all good. I just love the vibe when the matches are flowing. You have a 15 minute little drama with 3 other folks, then reset. I would be surprised if these kids I've taught ever play tennis, since they now have both a hoops and a PB background ... why mess around with a sport that doesn't have an open drop in culture? My son is on the varsity basketball and his buddy got cut from JV but is still a respectable player in pickup. And of course, thanks to me, they are pretty solid with PB. I have trouble imagining a situation where they aren't getting enough fun times from one or the other. Wherever they live, there will almost surely be a pickup scene for one or the other - and most likely both.
@@PeterCacioppi You gave them a great gift. I have to teach grand-daughter PB...she's 6...I taught her some tennis from teh age of three, so she can hit a little, but PB is going to be a lot easier for her to learn...she can always switch back to tennis if she wants.
My mom introduced me to pickleball. After playing it for about two years it made me want to play tennis and after that i became absolutely addicted to TENNIS. I still play with my family as i find it tons of fun but it does indeed hurt to see tennis courts turned in to pickleball courts. Especially when it is always so hard to find a court here in Vancouver, BC already :(
I was gonna comment exactly the same. Padel is growing incredibly fast, especially among +35 yo adults, and for the same reasons as pickleball: way quicker to learn, fun from the very beginning, and way less physically and technically demanding. Still, much faster and demanding than pickleball, though. No problem with that or anything against padel. But I am a bit saddened when I see that many kids are also leaning towards padel instead of tennis. I play padel occasionally and to be honest, knowing how to play tennis is a huge advantage to play padel (up to a certain level, of course). It doesn't happen the other way around, though. In my experience, kids that play tennis are somehow decent at padel, but kids that have trained just padel are usually terrible at tennis. I think that part of what makes tennis attractive is precisely because it is difficult to learn... but I understand that the challenge (and frustration) might not be the cup of tea for everyone.
The start up cost for pickleball is much lower than padel. Portable net systems can be purchased for around $150 USD and you can mark lines for a court on almost any flat surface. Basketball courts can fit 3 pickleball courts. You can squeeze as many as 4 pickleball courts on a single tennis court (it's a little tight with 4).
That already happened here in Argentina and Uruguay in the 90's. Nowadays, the hype has died off and many paddle pitches are closing. It's still being played, but I think tennis has once again surpassed paddle in number of players for the past few years.
@@santibergallo padel has seen a big resurgence in Argentina since the pandemic started. Nowadays you have padel courts opening up everywhere and it’s difficult to find a court to play because most of them are booked already.
I have been playing tennis for almost 2 yrs now originally my sports is Basketball but i got hooked in Tennis it is not an easy sport in any means but as you develop your strokes the more you aspire to get better.. I love Tennis and will continue to do so for as long as i can...
This is a marketing issue for tennis, Tennis can be played in various forms. Mini tennis, Mid Tennis and the full length of the court. The court size of pickle ball are the same size as mini tennis, with the red ball. USTA may want to address this if they haven’t already did so.
I have been saying for years that one of the biggest problems with USA tennis is the way it is taught by coaches and teachers....the "correct" way. it is a big turn-off to the game...it takes the fun out of it.. PB doesn't not have this problem....you pick the paddle up, and you hit it over the net any way you want. When I participated in 4.0 and 4.5 tennis tournaments, I found that most of the best players were guys who did the same thing....they weren't "lesson" players with proper strokes....they were just hackers who took what they knew from other sports, and hit the ball in whatever way they wanted. Some slice everything, some moonball, some hist flat shots like Jimmy Connors, some hit huge topspin on their forehands, and just push their BHs. But they all have fun, and they win! They beat the lesson" players most of the time. Maybe they will never rise above the hacker level, but they will love the sport and play for a lifetime. There is no reason why PB can't be a good introductory sport for tennis. The skills translate well, and PB is a lot easier to learn. I came to tennis at 28, having played ping pong. I got an over-sized racquet and sliced everything. it was very effective. I have since learned other shots, but I never would have stuck with the game if I had to learn those difficult shots with "proper" technique. And I have beaten a lot of "well-trained" players half my age with my slice, drop, and lob game. Coaches might do better with beginners by giving group lessons, where everyone just gets the ball over the net anyway they can...Once the players start having fun, THEN work on technique with those who are interested in improving. And you don't have to concentrate on the topspin shots first. Some might do better hitting flat shots or slice shots first, THEN picking up the "correct" way to do it. The social and "fun" aspects should come first. Tough instruction and repetitive practice should come later...for those that want it.... BTW, PBers are now learning "proper" technique, as the game is developing....and coaches are starting to make some good money teaching it....but the fun came first, THEN the drills.
This is a hard thing to admit but you are right. I’m seeing the same thing as I try to teach the ‘correct’ technique to my kids. It’s. A fine balance between teaching and over correcting, taking the fun out of it, and they end up quitting. The digital age and instant gratification has not helped for sure.
@@crunchtimeeats347 I had a friend that just passed away. His name was Frank Adams. A wonderful man who was a tennis pro for forty years. He taught old-fashioned flat strokes, and gliding footwork, as was the norm when he learned the game. He wrote a book called "natural tennis" where he gave his philosophy of teaching. He said that everyone figures out how to use a rake or a hoe or a broom...they don't have to be taught the "proper" way. He likened ground strokes to this kind of activity....one's body will figure it out, natural and free, if given the chance. If I were a teaching pro, i would get groups of players playing doubles matches ASAP., and the first shot I might encourage them to try would be the lob.....If you hit nothing but lobs at the beginning level, you have a good chance ow winning....singles or doubles....Good form on a lob can lead to good form on a ground stroke if you just bring it down. I would change teams often, so everyone gets the chance to win a set now and then. Then i would watch the matches, and try to give strategy tips to the players who are not doing well. it would be fun for everyone.
I feel the main reason for the popularity of Pickleball is the low barriers to entry. Follow my logic: Take any person with as much or little background in any paddle-like sports... Would you expect this person, who never touched a TENNIS racquet before in their life, to win an National US Open tennis tournament inside of 4 years? Of course not... Would you expect this person, who never touched a RACQUETBALL racquet before in their life, to win an National US Open racquetball tournament inside of 4 years? Of course not... Would you expect this person, who never touched a PING PONG racquet before in their life, to win an National US Open ping pong tournament inside of 4 years? Of course not... Well...in the sport of pickleball, the top 10 Nationally-ranked players (both women and men) had NEVER TOUCHED A PICKLEBALL PADDLE outside of 4 years ago. One girl and her mom won the women's doubles pickleball Open two years ago, and the girl was only 12 years old!!! Can you imagine seeing a 12yr old girl and her mom play in the finals match against Serena and Venus Williams in the US Open?? Of course not.... The top ranked pickleball players are ex-collegiate tennis players that were not good enough to be competitive on the tennis circuit. So now they are big fish in a very small (but growing) pond, instead of being small fish in a very competitive tennis pond. But clearly the barriers to entry and ability to excel in this sport are quite low. The number #1 guy (Ben Johns) quit tennis as a teenager (5 years ago), and is currently attending college (21 years old) while playing pickleball on the side. In my opinion, you take a competitive tennis player like Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and put a pickleball racquet in their hand right now, and they will kick the crap out of today's top pickleball players inside of 3 months. They won't need 4 years...or even 4 months...
I like both sports but vastly prefer tennis. I think there is room for both and love seeing the growth of pickleball. It feels fresh and fun where tennis still has some issues with being too traditional. I have played tennis with older people who cannot move well and would probably be happier playing pickeball. My mom has gotten super into pickleball and it's a social activity for her. And I love that I can team with her in doubles! Racquet sports are great. I love table tennis as well. And waiting for a tennis court where I live is not uncommon!
Snobs like this is probably why people don't approach tennis the same way they approach pickleball. Whilst I acknowledge Tennis is much much more difficult to approach, doesn't mean Pickleball isn't an athletic sport. It's like bashing on Table Tennis or Badminton. It's just a different sport altogether. I do hope Tennis also picks up and grows as a community where Tennis courts are not in jeopardy, but the condescending tone sure doesn't help.
After playing 41years I had a break through year as I found two tiny tips (one on this channel )that changed my game dramatically. The feeling was ecstasy, after years of trying things with little results. Your discourse at 6:13-7:15 resonated this. I wonder if the unforgiving nature of tennis is a fatal attraction to a certain personality who chases perfection which is always just out of reach. This coming from another Eastern European.
I need to move to where you are located! There are 16 courts where I play and we have to wait at most times of the day :-) Having said that.... ohhhhh man the pickleball noise is annoying!
Here in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, Pickle Ballers outnumber tennis players at least three to one. They are very aggressive in lobbying to turn tennis courts into little pickle courts. Before that they were quite belligerent in demanding "time" when tennis players were using tennis courts for tennis. I do not see pickleball as a sport, but rather an activity suited for the less athletic, infirm, elderly or just plain lazy.
"I do not see pickleball as a sport, but rather an activity suited for the less athletic, infirm, elderly or just plain lazy." VERY WELL PUT I M FROM TAMPA TOO .....PICKLEBALL SUCKS .THERE WILL NEVER BE A WIMBLEDON FOR PICKLEBALL
If I may, I think you have a very limited view of pickleball. It is easy to pickup true, but it is also difficult to master. Many of the same techniques required to master tennis are required to master pickleball. It is easier to start and have fun which is where most people end - but play with 4.0 or 4.5 people and you will see this is not what you believe it to be. I'm dead sweating after every match - just like tennis.
@@christaylor108, exactly. I'm a former Div 1 tennis player who now plays pickleball almost exclusively. It's all about the level you are playing at. All the shots I used to hit in tennis I still have to hit in pickleball. I don't think it's a coincidence that ~80% of the good players where I play were good tennis players at sometime prior.
I’m in Saint Petersburg and many of the players are rude and yelling obscenities when they miss a shot. I only wish they would keep pickle ball courts away from tennis courts as the two don’t really go together. Like the poster said… Tennis is a sport, Pickleball is an activity.
In my community we have both pickle ball and tennis courts. Pickle ball has become so popular that one of the tennis courts also has two portable pickle ball nets next to it so that it can be converted into two pickle ball courts. Thankfully our tennis courts are still very active with players, and most nice mornings and evenings you will have players waiting even with 8 available courts. When I drive by tennis courts in other areas however, I find them to be mostly empty, so I can see how courts are being converted.
I live in Tampa and seeing the same thing. I joined a ladder league (3.0 -4.0) with over 100 players. I learned fast watching Intuitive Tennis (Thanks Nik!) and meeting great people in Tampa. I am 38 years old, the youngest player I have played was 42. I have seen more younger players at the 4.5 level, but it is scary not seeing many younger people at lower levels starting out (like me) or sticking with it.
Plenty of kids playing where I'm from. usta is horrid though. Trust me kids my age think pickleball is about the stupidest "sport" in history. Its routinely mocked if people even know what it is.
You're not young dude, and barriers to tennis are super high. For some reason , it's not taught in schools in one of the richest countries in the world. Maybe spent too much time studying race theory? Spent all your dollars in afghanistan?
@@cloudsmith7803 ignorant comment, a ham handed way of introducing reactionary politics into a conversation about a sport. That doesn't make you daring, intelligent, or provocative--just dullwitted.
I didn’t say I’m young. I was saying many players in 3.0 to 4.0 level happen to be older. My point was I haven’t seen many young people at my level compared to pickleball. I agree many kids are playing tennis in camps and after school programs. I was just concurring with Nik that many younger adults starting out are choosing pickleball over tennis. I apologize for not understanding what you mean about race theory or why you even mention it too.
I am not mincing words like you. The fact that pickleball is interfering with tennis makes me despise this game and the fact that people are in love with it that had led to this. Elderly, out of shape people can find a lot of game to play, like badminton in the back yard, ping pong. Even pickleball can be played in the back yard, because you don't really have to let the ball bounce. No need for invading tennis courts. I think this is why it's good we die and don't live forever, because I have no desire to live in a world where everyone wants instant gratification. But the young might have no problem with that.
This is a good thing. Without Pickleball, I'd be sitting at home. Tennis is much harder to play. You're exactly correct about Pickleball and it's attributes! I am confident in saying, that most people playing pickleball now have never played tennis, or played tennis very seldom.
"When was the last time you saw someone standing in line to jump on a tennis court." I am happy to say this happened last weekend at FDR Park in Philly (in February!). It also happens every weekend in the spring/summer/fall at Fairmount Park tennis courts in Philly. Sadly, FDR park is being redone and replacing five out of ten tennis courts with... nothing.
you tell 'em nic! i picked up tennis 6 mo ago and would've given up if not for your channel. it's a beautiful lifelong struggle to achieve better. i hope more people discover your channel and you convert more folks. i just brought my dad to the court for the first time today and sent him your videos. lets goooooo
I totally understand! Tennis is awesome. But I don't want to struggle the rest of my life to learn how to serve, volley, etc. Pickleball allows me to have some of that "racket" fun, but with less of the struggle. Instead of struggling to play 1 hour of tennis (and find someone available to play with me), I can play 2 hours of PB almost anywhere and feel like I had a fun workout. To me, tennis is like a long-term project, whereas Pickleball feels more immediate and satisfying. Maybe it's a sign of the times.
Fighting the same battle here, and what bothers me most is that pickleball doesn't require a tennis court - the nets and lines are both different dimensions, the ball rarely travels far enough to need a backstop anywhere, and all the equipment is portable and can be set up elsewhere. I have yet to see a pickle ball court fit seamlessly into a tennis court. The best best implementations sort of blend in, but at their worst they do a poor job of making either surface work well. Our local city ruined 2 newly resurfaced tennis courts by painting pickleball courts inside of them - 2 in one tennis court and 4 in the other - all (including the tennis courts) with white lines. Good luck playing either game there now. Thanks for the great post. It ironically helps to know it's happening everywhere. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to grow the game of tennis in the face of this challenge.
one way to grow tennis is by using Spec Tennis as a bridge. It's easier to get new players on the court and retain players since the learning curve is smaller, yet the same exact skills needed for regular tennis are learned making it a very seamless transition to regular tennis ua-cam.com/video/EgKanZuA5PI/v-deo.html
They painted two PB courts on each of three of our four tennis courts here in our town. One on each side of the net, hanging over the baseline.....but at least they used a different color paint...yellow as opposed to white, for each sport. It doesn't bother you once you get used to it. I think it's a good strategy. Anyone can play tennis or PB...whoever shows up first gets the court....
Actually playing Pickleball on Tennis courts is super annoying. In many communities, there are (conservatively) 20 times more people who routinely play Pickleball vs Tennis. At least in Santa Cruz, CA - I almost never see people using the 1 Tennis court, and there are lines everyday for the Pickleball courts. If there was only 1 Tennis court in a community, then given the fact that you can replace 1 Tennis court with 4 Pickleball courts, from a utilitarian perspective it makes more sense to just entirely replace the Tennis court with Pickleball courts. This is by no means an indictment of Tennis, or an argument for Pickleball being "better" - only an observation of popular sentiment and resource management.
@@AMurderOfLobs Thanks, those are really valid points. As I told our local parks and rec department, painting pickleball courts on tennis courts is actually creating a conflict that doesn't need to exist. The two sports look similar, but they both use different lines, nets, and equipment. The way to embrace pickleball is not to deter tennis players by creating a competition for space. Instead, grow pickleball in its own space, and you might even grow your tennis community simultaneously. The 2 sports, although visually similar, are not really compatible in the same space for many reasons. Thank you for pointing a few of them out.
@@AMurderOfLobs When you say it is annoying, I say, "Annoying to who?" The way we do it, all six PB courts get used almost every non-rainy day....by mostly seniors. ...with a handful of players waiting. There is one tennis court still available, which also gets used most mornings. If there is more than one tennis group there, they can get a second tennis court, as long as they come first, which is rare, because the PBers start at 8am. The PBers start leaving between 10 and 1030, but some hang on til 11. The younger Pballers come at 430 or five in the pm....a much smaller group. Tennis players come int he afternnon and the evenings, and it's rare that anyone gets shut out.....but even if they do, there are other tennis courts in town, although they aren't quite as good as these, which were recently resurfaced. Several of the PBers also play tennis regularly.
The very last sentence about how Tennis lovers "play it their entire lives" - is actually is one the biggest selling points of Pickleball over Tennis. Many people just have to give up Tennis altogether because they can no longer play the game at a level that is actually fun. Pickleball (specifically doubles) is far more accommodating to our decreased physical capabilities as we age. In Pickleball, I've seen older people beat much younger opponents due to a superior execution of the game's strategy. I'm talking roughly 40 year age gaps. That is much more rare in Tennis.
@@bmanbusee3812 everyone that I've met that knows what pickleball is just mocks it for how easy and lame it is. It's a sport for old people or kids with lame parents
@@sjp4565 it's just a way to have fun, similar with tennis but way more then tennis cause it's played always in doubles and you have more combinations.
@@danbeloiu7775 Yeah, it's funny about PB...doubles is more prestigious than singles, unlike tennis. Singles is a completely different game. the younger guys have a big advantage in singles...not as much in doubles.
A guy today told they like it because it’s easier🤦♂️. I love tennis and I love working hard to achieve something great:). Me and my kids love Tennis because it’s hard. 🥂
I introduced my girlfriend to tennis, and it was just a giant nope. The ball was too fast, the court was too large, the rackets was too heavy. Then I found pickleball, and she could do it and liked it. It became a weekly thing. So I introduced pickleball to my dad and my uncle, who grew up playing tennis but have largely stopped because old. And now they have their own paddles.
Tennis is something that requires a lot of physical "work" and energy expense. If you're not a competitive person, the reward of winning or performing well is not worth the effort of going out and expending the energy needed to do it. Pickleball is super doubles-heavy, making it better as a social sport and reducing the amount of running that needs to be done. This is what most people want at a recreational level, especially with age. As someone in their early 20's who picked up the sport like 2 years ago, the tennis organizations in America do a terrible job at getting the unaffiliated 19 - 35 year old demographic to play. Everything is focused on juniors or club based team play.
@@parkercrossland410 What you're saying is true, but it's not quite the reason behind my anecdote. Tennis is more physically intense, yes. But it's more other things too. The tennis ball is faster than the pickleball -- hitting it takes more coordination. The tennis ball is heavier than the pickleball, and the court is longer -- getting it over the net takes more force. But maybe because of the holes in the ball, or because you're so much closer to what you're aiming at, keeping the pickleball inside the lines takes less control. If you try out tennis, you'll need several hours of practice before you can do something that looks at all like tennis. But if you want to try out pickleball, you need about five minutes of fooling around before you're ready for your first set. As with soccer, pickleball has a very low barrier to entry in terms of skill.
Once again, if you aren't willing to challenge yourself and put time and effort in, Pickle is for you. Hopefully after a while, ppl playing pickle will be confident and willing enough to challenge themselves and learn tennis
I’m a tennis snob 😊. I love the sound of a tennis ball, the running the power. I frown upon padel and pickle ball. They are hybrid sports. Instead of padel play squash. Instead of pickle ball play ping pong 😝. The sound is awful. First time I hear it.
It required organization and a major turnout from tennis players in my Northern CA town to stop the local government from converting a public court to pickleball. 75+ letters and 15+ people spoke on a government organized Zoom meeting early this year to convince the Park and Recreation board members to realize that there was still plenty of support for tennis in Northern CA. We all appreciate pickleball as a growing sport but like you express in your video, not at the expense of existing tennis courts. During the Covid shutdown, tennis courts were packed with lines every day.
It's so unnecessary...just paint some PB lines on a couple of tennis courts and the problem is solved. You can play either sport on the court (2 or 3 PB courts on each tennis court). Whoever shows up first gets the court. If you used different colored paint, it's not too distracting after a while.
God how much I hate that pickleball sound. Local neighborhood folks drawing with chalk on our tennis courts to play pickleball. When we tell them that's not what its meant for they don't care. Well, at least they are having a ton of fun with 8 people on the court... better than them sitting at home wasting away.
Your video reminded me that beach tennis is a fever in Brazil! I cannot understand why, but people are just amazed with this sport. At least we have never had any tennis courts to be destroyed with yellow sand and a up high net hahaha not joking
It was like that when I grew up in Brooklyn NY a long time ago, but in the suburbs and small cities, there are usually tennis courts that don't get used much.
Come to NYC and see how many people wait for courts during busy times and yet, some courts are getting converted to pickeball court. Unreal and unfair. They should build courts for pickleball, and leave tennis courts for tennis!
Pickleball is not a REAL sport..period..and I'm 67. (Tennis and Table Tennis background) The name alone is wussy, named from a bored suburban housewife after her dorky dog 'Pickles'.
As someone who plays both regularly (2x a week each) and is unbiased I can see both sides. Where I am in Canada the pickleball courts are way more crowded than the tennis court. For a community I see why pickleball courts are more strategic because 6 pickleball courts can have 24 people while 3 tennis courts usually have 8 (2 singles games 1 doubles). The biggest reason why I believe that pickleball is getting more popular in my community is because of the attitude of both players. To put it lightly tennis players are jerks compared to the pickleball community. Playing tennis quite a bit I always see these scenarios: constant arguing about lining up for a court, players "sneaking" their friends who rotate in to play longer, private instructors who aren't approved to reserve courts hog up multiple courts. Vs Pickleball community will see someone new and take time to teach them the rules. (That's from personal experience). I understand there are bad apples in every population. My girlfriend who went all in on tennis this summer by getting 10 lessons has seen enough of the scenarios mentioned above that she is now enjoying playing pickleball more than tennis just for that reason. Yes I know and understand pickleball is easier to pick up and in general takes less skill and I prefer tennis, but the attitude in recreation tennis needs to change and be less snobby.
Yes, pickleball is easier for beginners to pick up and enjoy. At the same time I find it just as challenging at the higher levels (4.0 and above) as tennis. I'm a 48 yo former Div 1 tennis player who now plays pickleball almost exclusively. I love the nature of open play where I can show up as a single, drop my paddle in the queue and be playing a match within 5-10 minutes. Over the course of a couple of hours I will have played 6-8 matches which a variety of people. This is even true when traveling; find a place that has open play and you're good to go. I've never found locals to be anything but welcoming to outsiders. I don't have to coordinate with someone else to find a time that works for them and worry about reserving a court. Here in Dallas there are a lot of neighborhood parks where the city built 2 tennis courts each back in the 80's. They still get some tennis action, but it's nothing like the volume you'll see where the city has added pickleball lines or completely converted a tennis court. The main place I play had 4 tennis courts where 1 was converted into 4 dedicated pickleball courts with fixed nets. Go there on a weekend morning or any evening and you'll see anywhere btw 20-50 people involved in open play. About 1/4 of those playing were at one time 4.0 and above tennis players. At the same time you might see one of the tennis courts in use.
Really good points. I don't believe there are any pickleball players out there advocating to convert tennis courts that are getting regular use. However, it's frustrating if you play pickleball regularly at your neighborhood courts, are consistently waiting in line to play, and there are four consistently empty tennis courts adjacent to the pickleball. In my mind, pickleball isn't killing tennis.........tennis is killing itself. If you want to make sure your local tennis court doesn't get replaced by pickleball, a basketball court, or something else, make sure it's being used frequently.
I played badminton for decades and now as I am getting older I am starting to take on tennis. Learning tennis is so much fun and much easier with my badminton background. I found out about pickle ball about 4 months ago and my thought was it is a game for people who is not good for tennis nor badminton...no offense to pickle ball players. I am pretty sure it takes a lot of training and dedication to play it well. Looks fun though.
How is your tennis after years of badminton? One thing I had to erase was wrist movement and memorize the take back/ backswing. 😂 Tennis is great I'm enjoying it immensely for 1 year now.
As many have said, and in video: it's easy to learn/start and no, doesn't require "great athletic ability" to play (yet, like all sports, it helps!). But also, you must understand other factors: less space needed (3 pick. cts/1 tennis ct); cost of equipment (balls last a long time, keep there "bounce"-no "flat" balls after a few sets/hours of hitting; You can play when damp out as ball is plastic (can't with tennis!-big adv!!)-which also means you don't have to join an expensive club for indoor courts to play year-round. All this and the new/novelty thing are reasons pickleball is increasing in popularity. And when you actually see old, decrepit, non-used tennis courts around, it's no surprise the pickleball community wants to use them for that sport. In my own area there are definitely more unused tennis courts that outnumber pickleball dedicated cts 5 to 1. Makes all the sense in the world why pickleball/padel are taking off. Tennis is difficult, costly, "old-fashioned", and not doing a good enough job of marketing to young and old to get new players. The writing's on the wall: Pickleball will be more popular than tennis (# of players) within the next 20 yrs as most of tennis players literally die off, or convert full-time to p-ball! I love tennis, but may end up playing more pickleball as my body says "no" to tennis.
The biggest thing that keeps me coming back to pickleball is how easy it is to go out and play. I can head to the courts any given morning and know that I will find people to play with, and I don’t have to set up anything in advanced. I have taken tennis lessons and have wanted to get into it, but the advice that I got for finding someone to play with was to just keep practicing on the wall by the tennis courts and try to find someone to play with. So I could just randomly go hit a tennis ball off of a wall hoping that someone happens to show up that needs a tennis partner, or I could go to the pickleball courts and know that I will have people to play with. I’m sure once you find a tennis partner it’s great, but it has been frustrating, so I just keep playing pickleball. If I could just show up to the tennis courts and know that I could get some games that would be great, but it seems like you really have to search hard to get a game of tennis.
Well said sir. You express my feelings very well as a former tennis player. I loved tennis when I was younger. The physical demand, I can handle but as I grow older, now retired, it becomes more difficult, but Pickleball awakened my love for racket/paddle sports again. Thank you for this video. Hopefully the haters will understand now.
There is only one set of tennis courts in my city, and it's really expensive to rent. I played tennis during the summer, and loved it, but now that I moved back it's impossible for me to play.
it's funny. in north america, public tennis courts are very plentiful. but in socialist europe they basically don't exist, and if you want to play tennis you have to pay a fortune. this is a paradox.
It’s an elitist sport. Our club in town all the prime slots are booked years in advanced by 3.0 level doctors and lawyers. There’s a reason why American tennis sucks.
I've seen all the Intuitive Tennis videos made by Nic for a long time. This is one of the most interesting videos I've seen! It approaches this new sport (nothing against it) that seriously worries tennis practitioners and lovers as they are witnessing the disappearance of the tennis courts that we love so much! I live in Portugal, a country that I love, but unfortunately it doesn't have that many tennis courts. Where I live, in Ericeira there are only two public tennis courts, plus a few private ones, so the relationship is overnight when compared to the US. You, the thousands who play tennis, have while it is time to "wake up" and take measures and actions that prevent any day from having surfaces to play tennis, which is a wonderful and exciting game. You shouldn't allow that to happen, otherwise one of these days has the problem that exists in Portugal: lack of courts=non appearance/disappearance of Champions. It's still all in your hands US tennis players ....!!
Tennis clubs need to wake up. In Portugal I can play padel from 7 in the morning to midnight, 7 days a week including holidays. Compare that to my local tennis club that's closed on a sunday afternoon... I know tennis is not as profitable as padel so it's hard to have someone around 24/7 to open and close the courts, but there are digital solutions to that nowadays.
I don’t mind the sport but there is a trend of municipal government are destroying tennis infrastructure, that’s going to be detrimental to recreational tennis. USTA need to be more assertive to protect tennis infrastructure.
I agree 100% with you. I've been playing tennis since the age of 15 yrs and now I'm 65 yrs old. I remember when Racketball came out with the same enthusiasm as Pickleball. And Racketball has fallen off. Pickleball requires NO SKILL AND NO RUNNING. Pickleball is like Table Tennis and Badminton. Just get out and play and have fun FAST!!! I'm in my 60's and I look better than TODAY'S 20 somethings. LONG LIVE TENNIS!!!!
Pickleball Padel , all the same, much more easier to play at so people run away from tennis , a very complex sport to learn and to enjoy :( what can we do about that !? Be super good in teaching tennis to student , make them do obvious progress fast enough to enjoy the subtility of the game and wish to learn more the way to yourself in fact ..... i will never give up tennis ! David, French Coach.
Also if there was tennis in schools it would be different. But apparently america only wants to push sports that sell video games and merchandise played by players who do nothing for society.
I live in Raleigh and we have a 22 court facility that is always PACKED during the Spring, Summer, and Fall. Wait list for courts is active throughout the evening and there's a challenge court for doubles that is always busy as well. Makes me happy that we NEVER see pickleballers out there! I appreciate the sport and people being active but it just ain't a replacement for tennis!
Not a replacement, but a competitor for new folks wanting to play a "raquet" sport. It'll be more popular than tennis within 20 years for simple fact of cost, easy to play, space and physical demand. All not true of tennis.
I totally agree with what you said. People nowadays specially the young ones want instant gratification in everything they do without putting any work. They also so caught up of their pride and so concerned with the aesthetics of how they look playing thinking that people are watching them and making fun of them which 99.9% of the time nobody is paying attention to you at all. I just started to get into playing tennis more and even though I know this is just for fun, I wanna play it right and play competitively so I'm putting the work and even if I'm having a hard time looking for someone to play with, I would practice and video myself hitting the wall, serving, and watching your channel and other coaches channel to see what needs improvements. I would be in the court 3-4 days a week for an hour mostly by myself. I would sometimes ask other courts who have a group if i can play with them or others using the tennis court for other sports (yes some people using the tennis court to play badminton, volleyball, soccer and weirdly a lot of bikers since the court is pretty big with 8 courts). It was pretty late to join a tennis club since I just started to get into playing late august. I just have this mindset coz I also play indoor volleyball competitively in higher level recreationally and anyone who's into sports know that it takes a lot of work and many practice needed to get better and be in a higher level.
I remember being invited to play pickle ball in a club in Mexico because all the tennis courts were reserved until very late. At first I had a hard time hitting the ball due to the short range of the pickle ball racket but in a couple of hours I was able to improve. But if I like something about the pickleball, it's the feeling you get when you hit the ball, and indeed the shots are more forgivable, also I was able to move all over the court. I believe this is the experience for some people, the feeling that is possible to play better with relatively less complex techniques. But I still love tennis cause of the rituals, the manners…but if something happens to the tennis courts, the tennis technique will still prevail in the players that adopted pickle ball.
PB is fun because the dink game is so important. If you can get the other team into a dink game, and you're better at it...no matter how young or big or fast, or good their "strokes" are,, you can beat them. Variety is key....Keep them guessing, so they don't know when you are going to drop, lob, dink, drive or block (hard or soft)...it's really great fun,a dn there are a lot of different approaches.....
Its happening in Germany as well. My boss got into pickleball and now we are building these courts as well. But for me tennis is for life. I find it much more fun if you have to move and finding ways to better my skills set. Play more Ping Pong Save Tennis Courts!
By the way, I looked that Boston Globe article up. Nearly all the stats come from the Pickleball Association or the trade group trying to sell sports equipment. Of course they would say that. If you start from a very small number you can say it's growing quickly.Here's an example appealing to common sense. Picture standing outside Walmart and asking everybody entering how many have a tennis racquet at home. Then ask how many have a Pickleball Racquet or have even heard of it. Or do the same at your next family gathering. To me Pickleball is like extremely dumbed down Tennis. I've seen brand new players win games from people playing it for a long time. So many more nuances and skills in tennis. Also so much more fitness. I joined a Ping Pong league for a bit and quit when I noticed most of the top players were overweight. You can move and do all kinds of stuff but you can also just barely move and get away with it against many opponents. Same for Pickleball. I said I'll start playing Pickleball when I hit 90. Besides taking tennis courts away or stopping new ones being built it really hurts my tennis if I'm anywhere near people playing it. It's like being in a pinball machine. The sound of the rapid fire, hard surface against the hard ball is very, very loud. Also, even though, to my eye, the Pickleball players are playing a too easy game they nearly always are whooping and hollering like they made a Micheal Jordan level play. My area has too few tennis courts as it is. I hope Parks and Rec. Departments won't do even less for tennis and if they want Pickleball courts build them far away from Tennis Courts. Just because they look alike doesn't mean Pickleball should be near a sport, like Golf, that needs a degree of quietness.
From Vancouver here, we got Pickle ball courts here too, but we see people waiting for tennis courts almost all the time. Seems like people still very much enjoy tennis here.
I think part of the reason pickleball has grown is twofold. First, it is much easier to pick up the sport as a beginner. Second, right now in the US we have a large elderly population of baby boomers. Tennis players can convert pretty well especially ones who tend to hit flat and are good at the net and doubles specialists. Maybe once the baby boomers move through tennis will have a rebirth?
I live up in Canada. In my area, we are always fighting to reserve court time outdoors during COVID. They converted two of six courts to dual tennis and pickleball but in two years I have only ever seen people play pickleball once.
I agree, in today's world people do not want to put efforts in anymore. I have been playing tennis for over 40 years and I am 54 years old who dreads the day when I can no longer play tennis the way I want to play. I can still hit well, but have accepted the fact that I can no longer play matches. These days It is all about trying to save my knees and arm so I can play longer. I usually have 2 hour practice hitting sessions and sometimes play a set once in a while, playing 2 to 3 times a week. I actually like pickleball and play it a few times a month when it gets colder outside for tennis. I would rather play tennis but it is to expensive to play indoors. Tennis does unfortunately have many things against it trying to compete with pickleball. Pickleball is easy, cheaper, and you can play outside when it is colder. The weather does not affect the equipment with pickleball like it does with tennis. Pickleball for me is only fun when playing doubles and playing matches. It is possible to play matches at a higher level in pickleball even at an older age because the court is small and conditioning is not a problem. The skill gap in pickleball is much more forgiving. For me tennis is still the best and if I had the time and my body could I would play tennis everyday for the rest of my life.
pickle ball is annoying next to tennis court. The sounds of it is distracting and the talking among the players are very bad to tennis players. pickle ball to tennis is like mini golf to real golf...
Never heared of Pickleball before to be honest. Dont really Think its a threat here in Germany but that is probably because we only have clay courts here. But we do see indoor courts disappear more and more from year to year. I personally think that it is very important to a sport to have top Players from your Country so the kids want to play the sport. Tennis boomed in Germany when Steffi Graf and Boris Becker where top of the game.
I’ve been playing tennis for 20+ years, but because of my asthma, I couldn’t play for extended sets. Just began playing Pickleball and I love it. I however want Tennis to stay because it really is a fun and physical sport which helps improve your health and fitness
Here is Austin most public courts are full with people waiting at peak times (evenings and weekends). Heck, they are usually taken by 7:30 or 8am in the morning as well. The tennis centers have online sign ups for reserving a court that open at 8:45am two days before and everything is taken on evenings and weekends by 8:50.
Where I live, tennis courts tend to be used quite a lot. The city just replaced 3 of them and one of the high school built 4 of them about 4 or 5 years ago. They added pickleball lines on tennis courts and people share the schedule without much problem. As long as tennis courts are in use, this will be the solution: do both tennis and pickleball on the same court.
I have played tennis for 43 years. It is the higher skilled sport and takes much more effort to see results. Given we now have younger people picking up pickleball over tennis could be due to the mind state of the younger groups not willing to put in the hard work and effort needed to improve or see progress ( we do live in a instant gratification type of world ). You can play pickleball and play a game right away so it's fun for that. I am pretty decent already and have only been out few times. But pickleball is already changing and is becoming faster and needing more athleticism to play at a higher level. I have heard there have been more injuries to people playing pickleball over tennis as the ball bounces lower and the strain of hitting lower balls on a quicker court surface area. But all you said is true. Tik Tokers and Millennials do not want to put in the effort to gain the skills of tennis. After over 40 years, I am always looking to improve.
No offense... But pickleball is for people who can't handle a tennisracket (finding tennis too difficult) and just want to do something that has to do with or looks like some kinda "tennis". To me it is so not cool playing with a weird plastic ball and a ping pong bat on a "court". Sorry to all people I have insulted right now.
What It Takes to Play Tennis at the High Level
👉 ua-cam.com/video/dLV4XmSChZc/v-deo.html
You pumped your fist on the 2 points you "won". You served it on the wrong side.
Tried Pickleball and picked it up very quickly because I play tennis. I love tennis because it is do demanding and challenging. Especially the serve. You might think I'm weird but for the last three years I've written down a record of every practice serve I've done. 64,395 serve to date. And it's only in the last 3 months ' because I now have a high level coach - have I realized that I've really got to change my whole service action if I want a really good serve. Something I'm really excited about working on. It's precisely because tennis, and the serve in particular, is so challenging that the rewards and sense of achievement is so great. Pickleball was fun but you can't beat tennis. Effort is rewarding in itself.
I'm 72 years old and I'm on a tennis court virtually every day. I adore the sport and the mental and physical demands it makes on my body and my mind. It helps prevent me - to quote the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas 'NOT 'to go gently into that good night'.
Tony Costa. Wales. UK
Awesome. You are never too old if you have a Growth Mindset.
All my respect to you !!!! I think reflects the society, people want to achieve quickly results, while you're a v hard working and organized person . I think how Nikola says(absolutely I agree 100% what he says) pickleball is a fun game etc but I believe tennis is way more demanding from every aspect. Also something should be done with the annoying noise that hitting a pickleball makes(a different type of ball ?) ..was teaching tennis next to a group playing it..I let you experience that ..!!!!
@@Better_Call_Raul I broke my habit when I realized that the service motion is (almost) the same as throwing a ball. Hold the handle, pretend it is a ball, windup by twisting and taking your shoulder back, and throw (but don't let go!). Like a baseball pitcher. Your shoulder, arm, and wrist automatically rotate with power. Then later I tuned it for tennis! (sorry Nic just a tip for the feel!)
@@Better_Call_Raul make sure you are holding the continental grip and dont keep practicing the wrong technique, try to change it
oh my god, this is awesome! keep going ma'am!
I think we people have become used to receiving everything we want instantly (information, food, fun) so to some extent we have forgotten how to be patient and really put in the effort until things start to pay off. This translates into sports as well: tennis takes so much time, work and patience to learn that many people are not willing to invest so much into it. Pickleball is so popular right now because people are seeking instant gratification and fun in a sport without having to think too much about learning moves and building a technique as it is with tennis. I recently picked up tennis and I love it.
Beautifully said. This is exactly it. Very glad that you love tennis. Many of us do. Keep it up!
Tennis is hard
As a tennis player who converted to PB, I completely agree. I find PB to just be more fun, and it was also a lot easier to entice my kids and their buddies to play with me. You don't really need lessons or drills like you do with tennis. You just play, and get better from playing.
That said, I do agree that its good to have a sport where you have to drill and practice. My kids get that from other sports (mostly basketball, but also gymnastics and martial arts). PB - we just have fun.
Fax
I disagree to some extent. I don't think tennis has to be that difficult. Give someone an oversized racquet, and let them hit the ball the way they want. if they are athletic and have played some ping pong, pickleball or racquet ball, they should begin to do well after just a few months of play. They are not going to beat solid players who have played for ten years, but they will hold their own in a doubles match, or even a 3.5 singles match. Provided you let them figure out for themselves how they are going to hold the racquet and hit the ball.
The solution is to build pickleball courts and leave the tennis courts be. You can also set up pball in gyms and parking lots.
Here in Italy and as I understand in Europe in general it's the exact same thing with padel for I believe the same reasons, easier to pick up, less ground to cover and maybe just the fact that it's a new thing.
In my opinion tennis is the most fascinating sport out of the bunch, you can play it for a lifetime and you'll still find something new to the game or something you've been doing wrong your whole life. It's super technical, extremely hard to master, but for some people, me included, the harder the challenge, the more I get frustrated, the more I want to play it
Same in Finland. I tease my padel crazy friends they play it only because they don't have the skillset for tennis lol
agreed, theres always something to improve on no matter how good you are
I totally agree, in Portugal padel is growing at a very fast rate!
LLT (Long Live Tennis)!!!
I'm Italian, too :) i think that padel is also substituting soccer
I'm in my mid-60s and playing tennis regularly has kept me fit and healthy, and I often play much younger players. I understand why it's easier for older people with physical issues to play pickleball, but tennis is THE best sport for staying young.
Like others here, I'm a lifelong tennis player (now 62), and absolutely love the sport, but let's face it, tennis is NOT easy, at least not easy to do well, but I see no point in being a snob about pickleball. I don't intend to take up the sport until I can no longer chase down a tennis ball, but people want fun and exercise, and pickleball provides that. I'd say congratulations to the picklers, and let's learn what we can from them. I know they always welcome newcomers and are ready to lend gear to the newcomers. Tennis needs programs in the parks and the schools to get folks interested. It's still not going to be easy, but it can be fun.
No doubt pickelball is pulling tennis players over onto the smaller court, so maybe we need to make some effort to attract some of the picklers to try tennis.
Your sense of diplomacy and approach to the would be situation is refreshing. It can be fun for everyone. Long live tennis.
Once I introduced some of my friends to pickleball, they started refusing to play tennis. And we're all in our 20's.
Almost all Professional Pickleball Association players on the pro circuit are ex-tennis players. It's almost impossible to make pro in tennis, but switching to pickleball they can at least live off the sport.
@@craigmarley5926 how about spec tennis for the older or injured tennis player. Who has worked to develop a game.
That's unfair. Tennis worked its ass off to have courts built over the years. Along comes pickleball and just arrogantly take over tennis courts without paying one dime into it. Schmucks.
7:30 you nailed my early tennis experiences. You watch Wimbledon each summer and think 'oh yeah, tennis'. You go out with a friend and three balls. Neither of you is any good. You can't maintain a rally. Balls go everywhere. You get frustrated and give up for another year. Having a lesson with a coach who had a bucket of 50 balls to keep constantly feeding at me was a revelation. I could actually practice hitting the ball properly.
One of my friends used to play short court with the green junior balls as a warmup and he was a 5.0 level player. It’s great for beginners to learn tennis technique while having all the same qualities that people like about pickleball
You should have tried a handball court.
Try a brick wall. It's free, provides immediate feedback on your strokes, never tires and you can never beat it. It's the best coach in the world!
The U.S. needs a #1 men's player to get interest back And we also need more media coverage of tennis at the national and local level, especially during the standard evening news sportscast.
I grew up in the 70s and 80s and tennis was huge. At my country club on Saturday morning if you were a junior you could not get a court. The adults took up all of the courts. Now Saturday mornings the tennis courts are a ghost town.
Tennis is a very particular sport, it requires a large court, fancy equipment, is really difficult to play (even basic rallying), is very demanding physically (if you want to play it semi-decently) and has a very steep learning curve. Oh and now that we have these superior poly strings (superior in terms of spin), they also need to be changed more often which poses other problems. I really understand why something more approachable like pickleball is coming up... (and I say that as something who has playing tennis since being 9 years old)
This is such a sad video, I adore tennis
I love both sports but I love tennis much more it is kinda sad
Tennis isn't dying because of pickleball.
Tennis is not dying, because I feel more people might play Pickle ball as a recreational activity, and most people play tennis for getting good and competing. Plus, Pickle ball will never outdo Tennis on TV which means that Tennis players will get paid more, which will encourage kids to chose a career path of tennis.
@@user-oe4wr9tn2n It is very sad to loose public spaces to play tennis, it makes the sport less accesible
@@user-oe4wr9tn2n bullshit
Tennis I can play for hours because of its high skill level, pickleball while fun can only keep my interest for about 30 minutes because of the low skill level.
@@TimTheMusicMan Professional tennis players are athletic outside of tennis. And watch some 9f those traditional athletes play tennis. It is horrific how bad people are at tennis which suggests it does actually have a pretty high level.
@@TimTheMusicMan I don't understand what you're saying. The existence of millions of bad tennis players doesn't mean that becoming good at tennis requires lots of effort and athleticism. Nadal, Federer, Djokovic are not athletic you say???
@@TimTheMusicMan At competitive levels of tennis, the best tennis players are just as athletic as the best MLB or NFL players. If we are talking about Tom Brady at 44 years old, he's still one of the most valuable players at the NFL level but probably loses a foot race to Nadal much less guys like Monfils. If we're talking about Pitchers or Sluggers in the MLB, same argument can be made about traditional features of athlecisim like strength, agility, speed, and quickness.
At the amateur level you have a diluted player base because people who otherwise would not participate in sports end up playing in the park on the weekend or showing up to their local clubs to be social. If you only take people at the same age ranges who play USTA against people who play rec league organized basketball, the results would likely be a bit more similar.
You'd say the same, if you started with pickleball. Your level is just low...period.
@@warriorsdynasty get therapy for that Oedipus complex you have yet?
"Intuitive Pickleball" coming up :D funny that tennis is now threatened while it has turned into a sport as easy to learn as ever before. Raquets are perfect nowadays. courts are better and you have more variety. Tennis is more attractive than ever before
One other thing that I didn't hear you mention that is helping to fuel the sport is how easy it is to set up a temporary pickleball court. Portable nets are very cheap and do a pretty good job. We can set up a temporary pickleball court on any flat surface in minutes. It can be a gym, a parking lot, or just a wide driveway. Grass is difficult - but not impossible (with a foam ball). It's kind of like soccer in that respect - it doesn't take a lot of expensive infrastructure to throw a game together. And once people get hooked on the game, the support for permanent facilities follows.
I'm not sure what this means for the sport of tennis - but I suspect it will find a way to persevere. It's been around for a long time for a reason.
I am fine with building new pickleball courts, just don't destroy our lovely tennis courts and turn them into pickleball courts.
😢
I agree, as long as the tennis courts are seeing use. If there are tennis courts that are going unused 90% of the time and people that want to play pickleball, the courts should be changed.
Exactly. I don’t have a problem with soccer because soccer players don’t take over other facilities. Pickleball is the only sport that destroys other sports facilities.
You may be right, Nick. I had been noticing chalk lines drawn for pickle ball on our city courts and yesterday when I went to practice, pickle ball lines had been painted on one of the courts. I still love playing tennis at 70 and I'm playing tennis until I can't play anymore.
Hey Nik! Im happy to report that my local park in Los Angeles does frequently have a line of people waiting for the four tennis courts at peak hours! Tennis till the end! ;)
which park?
The pickleball community is (on the whole) more welcoming to new players. Groups of players show up at public pickleball courts and rotate through, playing with multiple random partners over the course of a couple of hours of play, which creates a sense of community among the players. Higher level players often play down to help foster player development of lower level players. In many places where people are playing pickleball, you can walk up to a court and people will invite you to try it, they put a paddle in your hand and put you on the court. Tennis players don't look like they are having fun. Pickleball courts are boisterous with laughter and cheering.
Pickleball also lends itself to much more finesse than tennis, especially in doubles. Men and women, young and old, can play competitively against each other because players don't have as much real estate to cover. Placement is much more important than power. It's often compared to a game of chess.
These are some of the reasons pickleball is growing so quickly.
Here is a solution to help tennis gain popularity. Adopt the pickleball community play model, where people rotate through, where experienced players help newer players, and where people are welcomed to play when they wander over to the courts.
Agree. My first PB experience at community centre was so inviting, not like my experience at my tennis club, which isn’t bad, but not as a community feeling.
chess ? seems like you ve never played chess…pickleball is poor man’s tennis
Pickleball is for people too incompetent and lazy to play tennis.
More finesse in pickleball? That’s hilarious.
This summer, my club added some pickle ball courts (in Canada). They didn't get rid of tennis courts, just added a couple pickle ball courts. I played quite a few times and it was super fun. I don't think it's necessarily as much of a sedentary sport that some people think. You can definitely move the ball around and use the majority of the court. If you and your appointment are good, there can be a lot of sprinting and exercise in the sport. I think it's a very fun sport, though I have not personally noticed it's been taking over or killing the sport of tennis which is my first love.
Canada is still sane. America has lost its mind.
Tennis is so much more clear. It’s also a lot harder which makes it more fun to play when u get a point and all. Like pickeball is deadass so easy
In Argentina we had a huge padel fad in the 90s, for us it's a 90s stereotype the same way disco music is a late 70s stereotype.
It died in the late 90s, completely dead by the early 2000s. Perhaps because in the early 2000s we suddenly had many good tennis players that were ranked in the top 30 (coria, nalbandian, gaudio, canas, calleri, chela, zabaleta etc), but I think it was dying even before that.
Perhaps all it would take for this to die in the USA is one very good male American tennis player making kids want to play tennis
Agree, American men's tennis needs more clay, too much focus on serve and forehead
Currently in Brazil the mania is Beach Tennis.
Im from Florianopolis, Brazil, where lots of Argentinians come in the summer, and I remember they loved paddle, hotels built courts for them, everytime we saw someone playing we knew they were hermanos hehe but they played tennis too!
In the USA we already have the best PB players in the world. If the money in PB gets good, you might see everyone abandon the tennis ship, and switch to PB. I don't think PB will die here in the states, because it's much more inclusive and fun for the seniors. I can play PB five times a week, but tennis only two or three, or my neck acts up too much!
@@falkowski83 IS that the same as beach volleyball?
I played tennis for a long time. I still love tennis although I spend way more time playing pickleball. I’m a believer that both sports can and should coexist. This video talks about about pickleball’s shorter learning curve as part of its attraction, and yes that’s true. But what isn’t mentioned is the pickleball community’s culture vs tennis culture. Pickleball’s governing body in the US, USA Pickleball, has done an amazing job with advocating the sport with their ambassador program, introducing the game to new players at a grassroots level, while justifying needs with municipal parks & rec departments for places to play pickleball, some of these places are under-utilized tennis courts repurposed for pickleball. What has the USTA done to attract new players? I don’t see any USTA ambassadors out there getting new people to give tennis a try at the same rate as pickleball. Also, pickleball players love sharing the sport with other people, especially people who have never heard of the game, or even with people they see watching them play. Pickleball players always have extra paddles and often lend them to new players so they can give the game a try. New players feel more welcomed when the sport is more approachable. Tennis isn’t often perceived as being approachable. Tennis culture is perceived as “clubby”, “elitist”, “snobby”, etc… and many of the comments here kind of support these perceptions, implying that pickleball is inferior to tennis. Yes, pickleball has a shorter learning curve, but like tennis, is still difficult to master.
Not having to organize a partner and/or opponents to play with is another plus for pickleball. Just show up and you’re in the rotation with whoever is there. It’s mixed level friendly. The games are short, unlike having to play a set of tennis. And that makes it fun for everyone. Tournament wise, the entire bracket is completed in a day, and it’s double elimination, so you know you’re playing at least 2 matches. The pro pickleball tournament associations PPA and APP have divisions for amateur players(skill level based like NTRPs), and that inclusivity makes it attractive to participate in pickleball tournaments. Unless you’re a pro tennis player, I doubt many of you have played in an ATP or WTA tournament.
So I agree with the video that if you don’t want tennis courts to be repurposed for pickleball, they need to be utilized frequently for tennis. But to add, don’t just be a tennis player, be an ambassador for tennis, too. Invest the time to introduce tennis to new people, help them feel more comfortable and welcome. Loan your backup racket to a stranger. Tennis is a beautiful game… share it with people. And there’s no need to be adversarial with pickleball. Pickleball isn’t a threat to tennis. Both sports will be around for a long time. Nothing wrong with playing both sports. Many people do, and say the tennis and pickleball complement each other.
ua-cam.com/video/Y2a1BK4wBCM/v-deo.html
Due to the simplicity of pickleball, it is easier to find players of "close enough" skill level. Also... I don't know if it is a universal standard, but when there is a pickleball wait line where I live, the court etiquette is to play to 11 then rotate out and you get back in line - so more people get to play... and you get beer breaks :-) But I love tennis too and don't want it to decline.
Exactly how I feel. You make new friends at each game.
Crazy lines to get on tennis courts here in NYC. My neighborhood has some of the only public courts under lights and people regularly wait 2 hours to get on after dark. I guess we are lucky the courts are well loved/ unlucky it can be hard to get time!
Yeah, any big US city if you try to play in the evening after work you will hit major lines. I think the situation in south Florida is distorted a bit by the high percentage of retirees.
Same in Chicago
Same in Raleigh, NC. Had to go to three different venues to try to get in a league match last week because of people waiting everywhere. Even at the third one, had to wait an hour for a court to open up. Here, they're not building dedicated pickleball courts (at least not that I've seen), but they are striping a lot of the tennis courts to allow pickleball games.
My brother and I used to play tennis in high school. I recently got back into it because I wanted to get back into shape and be more active. Sadly, my brother only plays pickleball now, except when I come into town.
5:51 there are 4 courts within walking distance of my house. When I go over there its probably a 20% chance I can get a space right away. There are almost always people waiting to play.
As a kid, I played a lot of tennis. I probably was a 4.5 tennis player (maybe a bit better at singles, a bit worse at doubles) at my peak.
As an adult, I play pickleball. I taught my kids to play PB, and have also taught some of my kids friends.
This video is correct that PB is easier to learn. When I taught the kids to play, I taught them mainly strategy and shot selection. They largely taught themselves stroke mechanics just from playing. With tennis, you really want to put the time in drilling stroke mechanics and receiving guidance from an instructor. I was lucky to get some lessons and have access to a ball machine as a kid, and that helped my tennis game tremendously. But also, I was motivated as a kid to put in my homework, and tennis was the main sport I played.
My kids and their friends play other sports. They are mostly basketball players. They receive instruction and practice drills for basketball. PB - they only play games. They are always competing when they play PB and thus its always fun.
The other point you're missing - when we play PB, the play is fast. We hit the ball hard, and try to hit each other. We bounce the ball off each other all the time, and we never, ever apologize for hitting someone with the ball. The ball is lightweight and safe and made of plastic, so it doesn't hurt. We also "dink" (hit drop shots) but the dink rallies are like a suspenseful movie. We are just waiting for a ball high enough to smash. Then we typically smash it right at someones paddle-side shoulder, or bounce it off their feet. Some players are so good at returning smashes that the most reliable way to end the point is to smash it into their body. For us, this is just more fun.
The other "fast" aspect of PB is how quickly the points reset. Just watch people play tennis, and keep track of how long the delay is between points, and how short the points are. Then look at people playing PB. The rallies last longer, and the delay in between points is shorter. This is, for me, a huge difference. When I play PB, I have so much more fun than tennis, because so much more of my time is spent actually playing. The kids see this advantage as well.
Bear in mind - I put in my reps with tennis. I had two friends who played college level tennis who would rally with me, because I had the pure groundstrokes and could give them quality rallies. But I still find PB to have more real "playing time" because there is only one serve, the serve is almost always in, and you can always "reset" a rally with a dink.
Thank you for this respectful and mostly accurate video. My only correction is "why do kids like it". For three reasons. 1) it is easy to learn (as you say). 2) It is fun and safe to speed the ball up and hit people with the ball 3) There is very little downtime. You are always playing.
4) And it's not so "organized"...you just show up and play!
@@joemarshall4226 The culture is more welcoming, for sure. Do tennis "open drop ins" even exist? I just went to an open drop in with two teenagers. Both of this kids played a lot of PB during the pandemic and got pretty good, but they've played maybe a dozen times between them over the last 6 months. This drop in had retired folks who play PB maybe 250-300 days a year and are super serious about it. But they welcomed my kids with open arms! The kids got beat a fair bit, but they pulled off a few wins too. But the best part was this one guy in his late 60s, just putting his arm around my son after delivering a beat down and telling him "you're doing just great, keep playing!".
Does that happen in tennis? Not from what I saw. People just want to stay in their cliques and play people at their narrow level. My son and his buddy didn't really give this guy and his friend a very competitive game, but they didn't have any problem with it and just used it as a "let me coach you" opportunity. We're going back tomorrow, because kids love that sort of thing.
@@PeterCacioppi I agree 100%. It reminds me of my childhood, growing up on the streets of Brooklyn. You could go to the park, and get in to a basketball game, a baseball game on a softball diamond (no pitching, you just threw it up and hit it), a paddle ball game )on a handball court), or whatever. You chose p sides, and you played. Everybody got a chance. Of course older people love it when youngsters show up. I played a lot of street sports as a kid, and played Little League baseball and basketball. Then I tried tennis when I was 14 with an old wood racquet....I couldn't hit the ball! It was frustrating, so I gave it up. Then when I got to be about 22 I tired it a couple fo times with one friend who knew how to play. I did better. The big breakthrough came when I was about 30 and they invented the oversize racket.....now I could hit the ball consistently on both sides, and mishits often turned into winners, since I sliced a lot. The fact that I played some ping pong in college really helped. Without that, i would have been lost. I think PB will actually bring MORE people to tennis. Once they get some basic racquet skills, they will want to try the other racquet sports, like squash, ping pong, or tennis. Trying tennis without previous racquet experience is really tough.
@@joemarshall4226 I grew up in Vermont, and was inept at basketball. I played pee wee hockey and then skiied in winters. By Vermont standards I was weak sauce at both, but by flatlander standards I was a skilled skater and skiier. I played tennis in the spring, summer and fall, and was decent at it. I always envied the "just show up" culture of basketball, and wished there was a tennis equivalent. Then PB basically made my wish come true. I eat a fair bit of crow getting beat in doubles by people I could probably dominate in singles (tennis background and I'm decently fit) but its all good. I just love the vibe when the matches are flowing. You have a 15 minute little drama with 3 other folks, then reset. I would be surprised if these kids I've taught ever play tennis, since they now have both a hoops and a PB background ... why mess around with a sport that doesn't have an open drop in culture? My son is on the varsity basketball and his buddy got cut from JV but is still a respectable player in pickup. And of course, thanks to me, they are pretty solid with PB. I have trouble imagining a situation where they aren't getting enough fun times from one or the other. Wherever they live, there will almost surely be a pickup scene for one or the other - and most likely both.
@@PeterCacioppi You gave them a great gift. I have to teach grand-daughter PB...she's 6...I taught her some tennis from teh age of three, so she can hit a little, but PB is going to be a lot easier for her to learn...she can always switch back to tennis if she wants.
My mom introduced me to pickleball. After playing it for about two years it made me want to play tennis and after that i became absolutely addicted to TENNIS. I still play with my family as i find it tons of fun but it does indeed hurt to see tennis courts turned in to pickleball courts. Especially when it is always so hard to find a court here in Vancouver, BC already :(
Let's write to TENNIS Canada 🇨🇦 maybe they can help
Same situation but I live in FL :(
It's like padel here in europe. The things you are discussing is probably just as relevant here.
I was gonna comment exactly the same. Padel is growing incredibly fast, especially among +35 yo adults, and for the same reasons as pickleball: way quicker to learn, fun from the very beginning, and way less physically and technically demanding. Still, much faster and demanding than pickleball, though. No problem with that or anything against padel. But I am a bit saddened when I see that many kids are also leaning towards padel instead of tennis. I play padel occasionally and to be honest, knowing how to play tennis is a huge advantage to play padel (up to a certain level, of course). It doesn't happen the other way around, though. In my experience, kids that play tennis are somehow decent at padel, but kids that have trained just padel are usually terrible at tennis.
I think that part of what makes tennis attractive is precisely because it is difficult to learn... but I understand that the challenge (and frustration) might not be the cup of tea for everyone.
The start up cost for pickleball is much lower than padel. Portable net systems can be purchased for around $150 USD and you can mark lines for a court on almost any flat surface. Basketball courts can fit 3 pickleball courts. You can squeeze as many as 4 pickleball courts on a single tennis court (it's a little tight with 4).
@@sergioalonso3118 true words, greetz from Austria
That already happened here in Argentina and Uruguay in the 90's. Nowadays, the hype has died off and many paddle pitches are closing. It's still being played, but I think tennis has once again surpassed paddle in number of players for the past few years.
@@santibergallo padel has seen a big resurgence in Argentina since the pandemic started. Nowadays you have padel courts opening up everywhere and it’s difficult to find a court to play because most of them are booked already.
As a former tennis player and current pickleball player, I love seeing the tears of tennis players over pickleball just existing
I play both. PB is just a lot easier for people to learn. PB has helped my tennis volleying a lot.
Basically if you are the kind of uncoordinated, unathletic, participation trophy, don't keep score type. You will love pickleball.
I have been playing tennis for almost 2 yrs now originally my sports is Basketball but i got hooked in Tennis it is not an easy sport in any means but as you develop your strokes the more you aspire to get better.. I love Tennis and will continue to do so for as long as i can...
🔥🔥💯💯
This is a marketing issue for tennis, Tennis can be played in various forms. Mini tennis, Mid Tennis and the full length of the court. The court size of pickle ball are the same size as mini tennis, with the red ball. USTA may want to address this if they haven’t already did so.
I have been saying for years that one of the biggest problems with USA tennis is the way it is taught by coaches and teachers....the "correct" way. it is a big turn-off to the game...it takes the fun out of it.. PB doesn't not have this problem....you pick the paddle up, and you hit it over the net any way you want. When I participated in 4.0 and 4.5 tennis tournaments, I found that most of the best players were guys who did the same thing....they weren't "lesson" players with proper strokes....they were just hackers who took what they knew from other sports, and hit the ball in whatever way they wanted. Some slice everything, some moonball, some hist flat shots like Jimmy Connors, some hit huge topspin on their forehands, and just push their BHs. But they all have fun, and they win! They beat the lesson" players most of the time. Maybe they will never rise above the hacker level, but they will love the sport and play for a lifetime.
There is no reason why PB can't be a good introductory sport for tennis. The skills translate well, and PB is a lot easier to learn. I came to tennis at 28, having played ping pong. I got an over-sized racquet and sliced everything. it was very effective. I have since learned other shots, but I never would have stuck with the game if I had to learn those difficult shots with "proper" technique. And I have beaten a lot of "well-trained" players half my age with my slice, drop, and lob game.
Coaches might do better with beginners by giving group lessons, where everyone just gets the ball over the net anyway they can...Once the players start having fun, THEN work on technique with those who are interested in improving. And you don't have to concentrate on the topspin shots first. Some might do better hitting flat shots or slice shots first, THEN picking up the "correct" way to do it. The social and "fun" aspects should come first. Tough instruction and repetitive practice should come later...for those that want it....
BTW, PBers are now learning "proper" technique, as the game is developing....and coaches are starting to make some good money teaching it....but the fun came first, THEN the drills.
This is a hard thing to admit but you are right. I’m seeing the same thing as I try to teach the ‘correct’ technique to my kids. It’s. A fine balance between teaching and over correcting, taking the fun out of it, and they end up quitting. The digital age and instant gratification has not helped for sure.
@@crunchtimeeats347 I had a friend that just passed away. His name was Frank Adams. A wonderful man who was a tennis pro for forty years. He taught old-fashioned flat strokes, and gliding footwork, as was the norm when he learned the game. He wrote a book called "natural tennis" where he gave his philosophy of teaching. He said that everyone figures out how to use a rake or a hoe or a broom...they don't have to be taught the "proper" way. He likened ground strokes to this kind of activity....one's body will figure it out, natural and free, if given the chance. If I were a teaching pro, i would get groups of players playing doubles matches ASAP., and the first shot I might encourage them to try would be the lob.....If you hit nothing but lobs at the beginning level, you have a good chance ow winning....singles or doubles....Good form on a lob can lead to good form on a ground stroke if you just bring it down. I would change teams often, so everyone gets the chance to win a set now and then. Then i would watch the matches, and try to give strategy tips to the players who are not doing well. it would be fun for everyone.
I feel the main reason for the popularity of Pickleball is the low barriers to entry.
Follow my logic: Take any person with as much or little background in any paddle-like sports...
Would you expect this person, who never touched a TENNIS racquet before in their life, to win an National US Open tennis tournament inside of 4 years? Of course not...
Would you expect this person, who never touched a RACQUETBALL racquet before in their life, to win an National US Open racquetball tournament inside of 4 years? Of course not...
Would you expect this person, who never touched a PING PONG racquet before in their life, to win an National US Open ping pong tournament inside of 4 years? Of course not...
Well...in the sport of pickleball, the top 10 Nationally-ranked players (both women and men) had NEVER TOUCHED A PICKLEBALL PADDLE outside of 4 years ago. One girl and her mom won the women's doubles pickleball Open two years ago, and the girl was only 12 years old!!! Can you imagine seeing a 12yr old girl and her mom play in the finals match against Serena and Venus Williams in the US Open?? Of course not....
The top ranked pickleball players are ex-collegiate tennis players that were not good enough to be competitive on the tennis circuit. So now they are big fish in a very small (but growing) pond, instead of being small fish in a very competitive tennis pond. But clearly the barriers to entry and ability to excel in this sport are quite low. The number #1 guy (Ben Johns) quit tennis as a teenager (5 years ago), and is currently attending college (21 years old) while playing pickleball on the side.
In my opinion, you take a competitive tennis player like Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and put a pickleball racquet in their hand right now, and they will kick the crap out of today's top pickleball players inside of 3 months. They won't need 4 years...or even 4 months...
Nothing beats the real thing.
Pickleball isn't mini tennis . It's very much is own sport with quirks you can't find anywhere else
I like both sports but vastly prefer tennis. I think there is room for both and love seeing the growth of pickleball. It feels fresh and fun where tennis still has some issues with being too traditional. I have played tennis with older people who cannot move well and would probably be happier playing pickeball. My mom has gotten super into pickleball and it's a social activity for her. And I love that I can team with her in doubles! Racquet sports are great. I love table tennis as well. And waiting for a tennis court where I live is not uncommon!
Pickleball has way more efficient economy model. But man that sound is annoying.
Snobs like this is probably why people don't approach tennis the same way they approach pickleball. Whilst I acknowledge Tennis is much much more difficult to approach, doesn't mean Pickleball isn't an athletic sport. It's like bashing on Table Tennis or Badminton. It's just a different sport altogether. I do hope Tennis also picks up and grows as a community where Tennis courts are not in jeopardy, but the condescending tone sure doesn't help.
After playing 41years I had a break through year as I found two tiny tips (one on this channel )that changed my game dramatically. The feeling was ecstasy, after years of trying things with little results. Your discourse at 6:13-7:15 resonated this. I wonder if the unforgiving nature of tennis is a fatal attraction to a certain personality who chases perfection which is always just out of reach. This coming from another Eastern European.
I need to move to where you are located! There are 16 courts where I play and we have to wait at most times of the day :-) Having said that.... ohhhhh man the pickleball noise is annoying!
Here in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, Pickle Ballers
outnumber tennis players at least three to one. They
are very aggressive in lobbying to turn tennis courts
into little pickle courts. Before that they were quite
belligerent in demanding "time" when tennis players were
using tennis courts for tennis.
I do not see pickleball as a sport, but rather an activity
suited for the less athletic, infirm, elderly or just plain
lazy.
"I do not see pickleball as a sport, but rather an activity
suited for the less athletic, infirm, elderly or just plain
lazy." VERY WELL PUT I M FROM TAMPA TOO .....PICKLEBALL SUCKS .THERE WILL NEVER BE A WIMBLEDON FOR PICKLEBALL
If I may, I think you have a very limited view of pickleball. It is easy to pickup true, but it is also difficult to master. Many of the same techniques required to master tennis are required to master pickleball. It is easier to start and have fun which is where most people end - but play with 4.0 or 4.5 people and you will see this is not what you believe it to be. I'm dead sweating after every match - just like tennis.
@@christaylor108, exactly. I'm a former Div 1 tennis player who now plays pickleball almost exclusively. It's all about the level you are playing at. All the shots I used to hit in tennis I still have to hit in pickleball. I don't think it's a coincidence that ~80% of the good players where I play were good tennis players at sometime prior.
Condescension and snobbery are not admirable qualities.
I’m in Saint Petersburg and many of the players are rude and yelling obscenities when they miss a shot. I only wish they would keep pickle ball courts away from tennis courts as the two don’t really go together. Like the poster said… Tennis is a sport, Pickleball is an activity.
In my community we have both pickle ball and tennis courts. Pickle ball has become so popular that one of the tennis courts also has two portable pickle ball nets next to it so that it can be converted into two pickle ball courts. Thankfully our tennis courts are still very active with players, and most nice mornings and evenings you will have players waiting even with 8 available courts. When I drive by tennis courts in other areas however, I find them to be mostly empty, so I can see how courts are being converted.
I live in Tampa and seeing the same thing. I joined a ladder league (3.0 -4.0) with over 100 players. I learned fast watching Intuitive Tennis (Thanks Nik!) and meeting great people in Tampa. I am 38 years old, the youngest player I have played was 42. I have seen more younger players at the 4.5 level, but it is scary not seeing many younger people at lower levels starting out (like me) or sticking with it.
Plenty of kids playing where I'm from. usta is horrid though. Trust me kids my age think pickleball is about the stupidest "sport" in history. Its routinely mocked if people even know what it is.
You're not young dude, and barriers to tennis are super high. For some reason , it's not taught in schools in one of the richest countries in the world. Maybe spent too much time studying race theory? Spent all your dollars in afghanistan?
@@cloudsmith7803 ignorant comment, a ham handed way of introducing reactionary politics into a conversation about a sport. That doesn't make you daring, intelligent, or provocative--just dullwitted.
@@axisofpeter - look , I'm also lamenting the demise of tennis, but will not blame anything else, except our PRIORITIES.
I didn’t say I’m young. I was saying many players in 3.0 to 4.0 level happen to be older. My point was I haven’t seen many young people at my level compared to pickleball. I agree many kids are playing tennis in camps and after school programs. I was just concurring with Nik that many younger adults starting out are choosing pickleball over tennis. I apologize for not understanding what you mean about race theory or why you even mention it too.
I am not mincing words like you. The fact that pickleball is interfering with tennis makes me despise this game and the fact that people are in love with it that had led to this. Elderly, out of shape people can find a lot of game to play, like badminton in the back yard, ping pong. Even pickleball can be played in the back yard, because you don't really have to let the ball bounce. No need for invading tennis courts. I think this is why it's good we die and don't live forever, because I have no desire to live in a world where everyone wants instant gratification. But the young might have no problem with that.
@Tom R Well it is what it is. Humans psyche changes. People today want instant gratification. You can't have that with tennis but you can with PB.
Play tennis in a city. You'll see the line for tennis.
This is a good thing. Without Pickleball, I'd be sitting at home. Tennis is much harder to play. You're exactly correct about Pickleball and it's attributes! I am confident in saying, that most people playing pickleball now have never played tennis, or played tennis very seldom.
"When was the last time you saw someone standing in line to jump on a tennis court." I am happy to say this happened last weekend at FDR Park in Philly (in February!). It also happens every weekend in the spring/summer/fall at Fairmount Park tennis courts in Philly. Sadly, FDR park is being redone and replacing five out of ten tennis courts with... nothing.
you tell 'em nic! i picked up tennis 6 mo ago and would've given up if not for your channel. it's a beautiful lifelong struggle to achieve better. i hope more people discover your channel and you convert more folks.
i just brought my dad to the court for the first time today and sent him your videos. lets goooooo
🙏🙌
I totally understand! Tennis is awesome. But I don't want to struggle the rest of my life to learn how to serve, volley, etc. Pickleball allows me to have some of that "racket" fun, but with less of the struggle. Instead of struggling to play 1 hour of tennis (and find someone available to play with me), I can play 2 hours of PB almost anywhere and feel like I had a fun workout. To me, tennis is like a long-term project, whereas Pickleball feels more immediate and satisfying. Maybe it's a sign of the times.
Fighting the same battle here, and what bothers me most is that pickleball doesn't require a tennis court - the nets and lines are both different dimensions, the ball rarely travels far enough to need a backstop anywhere, and all the equipment is portable and can be set up elsewhere.
I have yet to see a pickle ball court fit seamlessly into a tennis court. The best best implementations sort of blend in, but at their worst they do a poor job of making either surface work well. Our local city ruined 2 newly resurfaced tennis courts by painting pickleball courts inside of them - 2 in one tennis court and 4 in the other - all (including the tennis courts) with white lines. Good luck playing either game there now.
Thanks for the great post. It ironically helps to know it's happening everywhere. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to grow the game of tennis in the face of this challenge.
one way to grow tennis is by using Spec Tennis as a bridge. It's easier to get new players on the court and retain players since the learning curve is smaller, yet the same exact skills needed for regular tennis are learned making it a very seamless transition to regular tennis ua-cam.com/video/EgKanZuA5PI/v-deo.html
They painted two PB courts on each of three of our four tennis courts here in our town. One on each side of the net, hanging over the baseline.....but at least they used a different color paint...yellow as opposed to white, for each sport. It doesn't bother you once you get used to it. I think it's a good strategy. Anyone can play tennis or PB...whoever shows up first gets the court....
Actually playing Pickleball on Tennis courts is super annoying. In many communities, there are (conservatively) 20 times more people who routinely play Pickleball vs Tennis. At least in Santa Cruz, CA - I almost never see people using the 1 Tennis court, and there are lines everyday for the Pickleball courts. If there was only 1 Tennis court in a community, then given the fact that you can replace 1 Tennis court with 4 Pickleball courts, from a utilitarian perspective it makes more sense to just entirely replace the Tennis court with Pickleball courts. This is by no means an indictment of Tennis, or an argument for Pickleball being "better" - only an observation of popular sentiment and resource management.
@@AMurderOfLobs Thanks, those are really valid points. As I told our local parks and rec department, painting pickleball courts on tennis courts is actually creating a conflict that doesn't need to exist. The two sports look similar, but they both use different lines, nets, and equipment. The way to embrace pickleball is not to deter tennis players by creating a competition for space. Instead, grow pickleball in its own space, and you might even grow your tennis community simultaneously. The 2 sports, although visually similar, are not really compatible in the same space for many reasons. Thank you for pointing a few of them out.
@@AMurderOfLobs When you say it is annoying, I say, "Annoying to who?" The way we do it, all six PB courts get used almost every non-rainy day....by mostly seniors. ...with a handful of players waiting. There is one tennis court still available, which also gets used most mornings. If there is more than one tennis group there, they can get a second tennis court, as long as they come first, which is rare, because the PBers start at 8am. The PBers start leaving between 10 and 1030, but some hang on til 11. The younger Pballers come at 430 or five in the pm....a much smaller group. Tennis players come int he afternnon and the evenings, and it's rare that anyone gets shut out.....but even if they do, there are other tennis courts in town, although they aren't quite as good as these, which were recently resurfaced. Several of the PBers also play tennis regularly.
The very last sentence about how Tennis lovers "play it their entire lives" - is actually is one the biggest selling points of Pickleball over Tennis. Many people just have to give up Tennis altogether because they can no longer play the game at a level that is actually fun.
Pickleball (specifically doubles) is far more accommodating to our decreased physical capabilities as we age.
In Pickleball, I've seen older people beat much younger opponents due to a superior execution of the game's strategy. I'm talking roughly 40 year age gaps. That is much more rare in Tennis.
Tennis has grown a ton over the past two years as well. There’s a line everytime I go out to play in my area
@@bmanbusee3812 everyone that I've met that knows what pickleball is just mocks it for how easy and lame it is. It's a sport for old people or kids with lame parents
@@sjp4565 it's just a way to have fun, similar with tennis but way more then tennis cause it's played always in doubles and you have more combinations.
@@sjp4565 Have they played much?
@@danbeloiu7775 Yeah, it's funny about PB...doubles is more prestigious than singles, unlike tennis. Singles is a completely different game. the younger guys have a big advantage in singles...not as much in doubles.
@@danbeloiu7775 I actually agree its a social thing to have fun. Thats all.
A guy today told they like it because it’s easier🤦♂️. I love tennis and I love working hard to achieve something great:). Me and my kids love Tennis because it’s hard. 🥂
I introduced my girlfriend to tennis, and it was just a giant nope. The ball was too fast, the court was too large, the rackets was too heavy.
Then I found pickleball, and she could do it and liked it. It became a weekly thing. So I introduced pickleball to my dad and my uncle, who grew up playing tennis but have largely stopped because old. And now they have their own paddles.
Tennis is something that requires a lot of physical "work" and energy expense. If you're not a competitive person, the reward of winning or performing well is not worth the effort of going out and expending the energy needed to do it. Pickleball is super doubles-heavy, making it better as a social sport and reducing the amount of running that needs to be done. This is what most people want at a recreational level, especially with age.
As someone in their early 20's who picked up the sport like 2 years ago, the tennis organizations in America do a terrible job at getting the unaffiliated 19 - 35 year old demographic to play. Everything is focused on juniors or club based team play.
@@parkercrossland410 What you're saying is true, but it's not quite the reason behind my anecdote. Tennis is more physically intense, yes. But it's more other things too.
The tennis ball is faster than the pickleball -- hitting it takes more coordination.
The tennis ball is heavier than the pickleball, and the court is longer -- getting it over the net takes more force.
But maybe because of the holes in the ball, or because you're so much closer to what you're aiming at, keeping the pickleball inside the lines takes less control.
If you try out tennis, you'll need several hours of practice before you can do something that looks at all like tennis. But if you want to try out pickleball, you need about five minutes of fooling around before you're ready for your first set.
As with soccer, pickleball has a very low barrier to entry in terms of skill.
Yes tennis takes more skill and athleticism
Once again, if you aren't willing to challenge yourself and put time and effort in, Pickle is for you. Hopefully after a while, ppl playing pickle will be confident and willing enough to challenge themselves and learn tennis
@@gasperm3 THIS
I’m a tennis snob 😊. I love the sound of a tennis ball, the running the power. I frown upon padel and pickle ball. They are hybrid sports. Instead of padel play squash. Instead of pickle ball play ping pong 😝. The sound is awful. First time I hear it.
It required organization and a major turnout from tennis players in my Northern CA town to stop the local government from converting a public court to pickleball. 75+ letters and 15+ people spoke on a government organized Zoom meeting early this year to convince the Park and Recreation board members to realize that there was still plenty of support for tennis in Northern CA. We all appreciate pickleball as a growing sport but like you express in your video, not at the expense of existing tennis courts. During the Covid shutdown, tennis courts were packed with lines every day.
🙏🙏
It's so unnecessary...just paint some PB lines on a couple of tennis courts and the problem is solved. You can play either sport on the court (2 or 3 PB courts on each tennis court). Whoever shows up first gets the court. If you used different colored paint, it's not too distracting after a while.
God how much I hate that pickleball sound. Local neighborhood folks drawing with chalk on our tennis courts to play pickleball. When we tell them that's not what its meant for they don't care. Well, at least they are having a ton of fun with 8 people on the court... better than them sitting at home wasting away.
Your video reminded me that beach tennis is a fever in Brazil! I cannot understand why, but people are just amazed with this sport. At least we have never had any tennis courts to be destroyed with yellow sand and a up high net hahaha not joking
@@arabe7486 ua-cam.com/video/KOKS_apCwzA/v-deo.html
Lembrei desse triste episódio
Perto de onde moro abriram 10 quadras de beach tennis, todas lotadas a noite, e no fundo apenas uma de tênis vazia, incrível
Nothing can beat the popping sound tennis ball hitting sweet spot on a racquet, power and speed and gracefulness of forehand and backhand swings.
for me in munich its actually worse than standing in line, you have to book a tennis court at least 2 weeks ahead, or its completly booked out
It was like that when I grew up in Brooklyn NY a long time ago, but in the suburbs and small cities, there are usually tennis courts that don't get used much.
Come to NYC and see how many people wait for courts during busy times and yet, some courts are getting converted to pickeball court. Unreal and unfair. They should build courts for pickleball, and leave tennis courts for tennis!
sound annoys me too, specifically when I’m on the TENNIS court playing 😆
Pickleball is not a REAL sport..period..and I'm 67. (Tennis and Table Tennis background) The name alone is wussy, named from a bored suburban housewife after her dorky dog 'Pickles'.
As someone who plays both regularly (2x a week each) and is unbiased I can see both sides. Where I am in Canada the pickleball courts are way more crowded than the tennis court. For a community I see why pickleball courts are more strategic because 6 pickleball courts can have 24 people while 3 tennis courts usually have 8 (2 singles games 1 doubles). The biggest reason why I believe that pickleball is getting more popular in my community is because of the attitude of both players. To put it lightly tennis players are jerks compared to the pickleball community. Playing tennis quite a bit I always see these scenarios: constant arguing about lining up for a court, players "sneaking" their friends who rotate in to play longer, private instructors who aren't approved to reserve courts hog up multiple courts. Vs Pickleball community will see someone new and take time to teach them the rules. (That's from personal experience). I understand there are bad apples in every population. My girlfriend who went all in on tennis this summer by getting 10 lessons has seen enough of the scenarios mentioned above that she is now enjoying playing pickleball more than tennis just for that reason. Yes I know and understand pickleball is easier to pick up and in general takes less skill and I prefer tennis, but the attitude in recreation tennis needs to change and be less snobby.
Yes, pickleball is easier for beginners to pick up and enjoy. At the same time I find it just as challenging at the higher levels (4.0 and above) as tennis. I'm a 48 yo former Div 1 tennis player who now plays pickleball almost exclusively. I love the nature of open play where I can show up as a single, drop my paddle in the queue and be playing a match within 5-10 minutes. Over the course of a couple of hours I will have played 6-8 matches which a variety of people. This is even true when traveling; find a place that has open play and you're good to go. I've never found locals to be anything but welcoming to outsiders. I don't have to coordinate with someone else to find a time that works for them and worry about reserving a court.
Here in Dallas there are a lot of neighborhood parks where the city built 2 tennis courts each back in the 80's. They still get some tennis action, but it's nothing like the volume you'll see where the city has added pickleball lines or completely converted a tennis court. The main place I play had 4 tennis courts where 1 was converted into 4 dedicated pickleball courts with fixed nets. Go there on a weekend morning or any evening and you'll see anywhere btw 20-50 people involved in open play. About 1/4 of those playing were at one time 4.0 and above tennis players. At the same time you might see one of the tennis courts in use.
Really good points. I don't believe there are any pickleball players out there advocating to convert tennis courts that are getting regular use. However, it's frustrating if you play pickleball regularly at your neighborhood courts, are consistently waiting in line to play, and there are four consistently empty tennis courts adjacent to the pickleball. In my mind, pickleball isn't killing tennis.........tennis is killing itself. If you want to make sure your local tennis court doesn't get replaced by pickleball, a basketball court, or something else, make sure it's being used frequently.
I played badminton for decades and now as I am getting older I am starting to take on tennis. Learning tennis is so much fun and much easier with my badminton background. I found out about pickle ball about 4 months ago and my thought was it is a game for people who is not good for tennis nor badminton...no offense to pickle ball players. I am pretty sure it takes a lot of training and dedication to play it well. Looks fun though.
How is your tennis after years of badminton? One thing I had to erase was wrist movement and memorize the take back/ backswing. 😂 Tennis is great I'm enjoying it immensely for 1 year now.
@@thenaturalyogi5934I guess net game and smashing
As many have said, and in video: it's easy to learn/start and no, doesn't require "great athletic ability" to play (yet, like all sports, it helps!). But also, you must understand other factors: less space needed (3 pick. cts/1 tennis ct); cost of equipment (balls last a long time, keep there "bounce"-no "flat" balls after a few sets/hours of hitting; You can play when damp out as ball is plastic (can't with tennis!-big adv!!)-which also means you don't have to join an expensive club for indoor courts to play year-round. All this and the new/novelty thing are reasons pickleball is increasing in popularity. And when you actually see old, decrepit, non-used tennis courts around, it's no surprise the pickleball community wants to use them for that sport. In my own area there are definitely more unused tennis courts that outnumber pickleball dedicated cts 5 to 1. Makes all the sense in the world why pickleball/padel are taking off. Tennis is difficult, costly, "old-fashioned", and not doing a good enough job of marketing to young and old to get new players. The writing's on the wall: Pickleball will be more popular than tennis (# of players) within the next 20 yrs as most of tennis players literally die off, or convert full-time to p-ball! I love tennis, but may end up playing more pickleball as my body says "no" to tennis.
The biggest thing that keeps me coming back to pickleball is how easy it is to go out and play. I can head to the courts any given morning and know that I will find people to play with, and I don’t have to set up anything in advanced. I have taken tennis lessons and have wanted to get into it, but the advice that I got for finding someone to play with was to just keep practicing on the wall by the tennis courts and try to find someone to play with. So I could just randomly go hit a tennis ball off of a wall hoping that someone happens to show up that needs a tennis partner, or I could go to the pickleball courts and know that I will have people to play with. I’m sure once you find a tennis partner it’s great, but it has been frustrating, so I just keep playing pickleball. If I could just show up to the tennis courts and know that I could get some games that would be great, but it seems like you really have to search hard to get a game of tennis.
The tennis courts used to be packed full here but now they are Baron unfortunately tennis is dying 😢
Well said sir. You express my feelings very well as a former tennis player. I loved tennis when I was younger. The physical demand, I can handle but as I grow older, now retired, it becomes more difficult, but Pickleball awakened my love for racket/paddle sports again. Thank you for this video. Hopefully the haters will understand now.
There is only one set of tennis courts in my city, and it's really expensive to rent. I played tennis during the summer, and loved it, but now that I moved back it's impossible for me to play.
it's funny. in north america, public tennis courts are very plentiful. but in socialist europe they basically don't exist, and if you want to play tennis you have to pay a fortune. this is a paradox.
It’s an elitist sport. Our club in town all the prime slots are booked years in advanced by 3.0 level doctors and lawyers. There’s a reason why American tennis sucks.
@@sonicmilk pickleball seems far from elitist on the other hand
@@Hematoph game of the people.
Populated pickleball courts > Empty tennis courts
I've seen all the Intuitive Tennis videos made by Nic for a long time.
This is one of the most interesting videos I've seen!
It approaches this new sport (nothing against it) that seriously worries tennis practitioners and lovers as they are witnessing the disappearance of the tennis courts that we love so much!
I live in Portugal, a country that I love, but unfortunately it doesn't have that many tennis courts.
Where I live, in Ericeira there are only two public tennis courts, plus a few private ones, so the relationship is overnight when compared to the US.
You, the thousands who play tennis, have while it is time to "wake up" and take measures and actions that prevent any day from having surfaces to play tennis, which is a wonderful and exciting game.
You shouldn't allow that to happen, otherwise one of these days has the problem that exists in Portugal: lack of courts=non appearance/disappearance of Champions.
It's still all in your hands US tennis players ....!!
Tennis clubs need to wake up. In Portugal I can play padel from 7 in the morning to midnight, 7 days a week including holidays. Compare that to my local tennis club that's closed on a sunday afternoon... I know tennis is not as profitable as padel so it's hard to have someone around 24/7 to open and close the courts, but there are digital solutions to that nowadays.
I do both
I don’t mind the sport but there is a trend of municipal government are destroying tennis infrastructure, that’s going to be detrimental to recreational tennis. USTA need to be more assertive to protect tennis infrastructure.
Facts
I agree 100% with you. I've been playing tennis since the age of 15 yrs and now I'm 65 yrs old. I remember when Racketball came out with the same enthusiasm as Pickleball. And Racketball has fallen off. Pickleball requires NO SKILL AND NO RUNNING. Pickleball is like Table Tennis and Badminton. Just get out and play and have fun FAST!!! I'm in my 60's and I look better than TODAY'S 20 somethings. LONG LIVE TENNIS!!!!
Pickleball Padel , all the same, much more easier to play at so people run away from tennis , a very complex sport to learn and to enjoy :( what can we do about that !? Be super good in teaching tennis to student , make them do obvious progress fast enough to enjoy the subtility of the game and wish to learn more the way to yourself in fact ..... i will never give up tennis ! David, French Coach.
Well said!
Only old people play pickleball. Nobody under 50 would even hold that paddle.
Also if there was tennis in schools it would be different. But apparently america only wants to push sports that sell video games and merchandise played by players who do nothing for society.
There is very similar thing happening here in Brazil with beach tennis and for the exact same reasons.
I live in Raleigh and we have a 22 court facility that is always PACKED during the Spring, Summer, and Fall. Wait list for courts is active throughout the evening and there's a challenge court for doubles that is always busy as well. Makes me happy that we NEVER see pickleballers out there! I appreciate the sport and people being active but it just ain't a replacement for tennis!
Not a replacement, but a competitor for new folks wanting to play a "raquet" sport. It'll be more popular than tennis within 20 years for simple fact of cost, easy to play, space and physical demand. All not true of tennis.
Public courts here in Toronto are always rammed. I'd say there are not enough courts over here.
-I’m a “no-BS” guy (Coach Nick, 2021)
I would buy that t-shirt. Big fan.
I totally agree with what you said. People nowadays specially the young ones want instant gratification in everything they do without putting any work. They also so caught up of their pride and so concerned with the aesthetics of how they look playing thinking that people are watching them and making fun of them which 99.9% of the time nobody is paying attention to you at all. I just started to get into playing tennis more and even though I know this is just for fun, I wanna play it right and play competitively so I'm putting the work and even if I'm having a hard time looking for someone to play with, I would practice and video myself hitting the wall, serving, and watching your channel and other coaches channel to see what needs improvements. I would be in the court 3-4 days a week for an hour mostly by myself. I would sometimes ask other courts who have a group if i can play with them or others using the tennis court for other sports (yes some people using the tennis court to play badminton, volleyball, soccer and weirdly a lot of bikers since the court is pretty big with 8 courts). It was pretty late to join a tennis club since I just started to get into playing late august. I just have this mindset coz I also play indoor volleyball competitively in higher level recreationally and anyone who's into sports know that it takes a lot of work and many practice needed to get better and be in a higher level.
I remember being invited to play pickle ball in a club in Mexico because all the tennis courts were reserved until very late. At first I had a hard time hitting the ball due to the short range of the pickle ball racket but in a couple of hours I was able to improve. But if I like something about the pickleball, it's the feeling you get when you hit the ball, and indeed the shots are more forgivable, also I was able to move all over the court. I believe this is the experience for some people, the feeling that is possible to play better with relatively less complex techniques. But I still love tennis cause of the rituals, the manners…but if something happens to the tennis courts, the tennis technique will still prevail in the players that adopted pickle ball.
PB is fun because the dink game is so important. If you can get the other team into a dink game, and you're better at it...no matter how young or big or fast, or good their "strokes" are,, you can beat them. Variety is key....Keep them guessing, so they don't know when you are going to drop, lob, dink, drive or block (hard or soft)...it's really great fun,a dn there are a lot of different approaches.....
Pickleball looks like playing ping pong on jumbo sized table you can step on
I agree. I feel like pickleball is as if tennis and ping pong had a baby. My two favorite sports mashed into one :)
Its happening in Germany as well. My boss got into pickleball and now we are building these courts as well. But for me tennis is for life. I find it much more fun if you have to move and finding ways to better my skills set. Play more Ping Pong Save Tennis Courts!
By the way, I looked that Boston Globe article up. Nearly all the stats come from the Pickleball Association or the trade group trying to sell sports equipment. Of course they would say that. If you start from a very small number you can say it's growing quickly.Here's an example appealing to common sense. Picture standing outside Walmart and asking everybody entering how many have a tennis racquet at home. Then ask how many have a Pickleball Racquet or have even heard of it. Or do the same at your next family gathering.
To me Pickleball is like extremely dumbed down Tennis. I've seen brand new players win games from people playing it for a long time. So many more nuances and skills in tennis. Also so much more fitness. I joined a Ping Pong league for a bit and quit when I noticed most of the top players were overweight. You can move and do all kinds of stuff but you can also just barely move and get away with it against many opponents. Same for Pickleball. I said I'll start playing Pickleball when I hit 90. Besides taking tennis courts away or stopping new ones being built it really hurts my tennis if I'm anywhere near people playing it. It's like being in a pinball machine. The sound of the rapid fire, hard surface against the hard ball is very, very loud. Also, even though, to my eye, the Pickleball players are playing a too easy game they nearly always are whooping and hollering like they made a Micheal Jordan level play. My area has too few tennis courts as it is. I hope Parks and Rec. Departments won't do even less for tennis and if they want Pickleball courts build them far away from Tennis Courts. Just because they look alike doesn't mean Pickleball should be near a sport, like Golf, that needs a degree of quietness.
From Vancouver here, we got Pickle ball courts here too, but we see people waiting for tennis courts almost all the time. Seems like people still very much enjoy tennis here.
I think part of the reason pickleball has grown is twofold. First, it is much easier to pick up the sport as a beginner. Second, right now in the US we have a large elderly population of baby boomers. Tennis players can convert pretty well especially ones who tend to hit flat and are good at the net and doubles specialists. Maybe once the baby boomers move through tennis will have a rebirth?
I live up in Canada. In my area, we are always fighting to reserve court time outdoors during COVID. They converted two of six courts to dual tennis and pickleball but in two years I have only ever seen people play pickleball once.
I agree, in today's world people do not want to put efforts in anymore. I have been playing tennis for over 40 years and I am 54 years old who dreads the day when I can no longer play tennis the way I want to play. I can still hit well, but have accepted the fact that I can no longer play matches. These days It is all about trying to save my knees and arm so I can play longer. I usually have 2 hour practice hitting sessions and sometimes play a set once in a while, playing 2 to 3 times a week.
I actually like pickleball and play it a few times a month when it gets colder outside for tennis. I would rather play tennis but it is to expensive to play indoors. Tennis does unfortunately have many things against it trying to compete with pickleball. Pickleball is easy, cheaper, and you can play outside when it is colder. The weather does not affect the equipment with pickleball like it does with tennis. Pickleball for me is only fun when playing doubles and playing matches. It is possible to play matches at a higher level in pickleball even at an older age because the court is small and conditioning is not a problem. The skill gap in pickleball is much more forgiving.
For me tennis is still the best and if I had the time and my body could I would play tennis everyday for the rest of my life.
Thankyou brother…love your vids..keep them coming…
Time to build our own tennis courts in our backyards!
pickle ball is annoying next to tennis court. The sounds of it is distracting and the talking among the players are very bad to tennis players. pickle ball to tennis is like mini golf to real golf...
Never heared of Pickleball before to be honest. Dont really Think its a threat here in Germany but that is probably because we only have clay courts here. But we do see indoor courts disappear more and more from year to year. I personally think that it is very important to a sport to have top Players from your Country so the kids want to play the sport. Tennis boomed in Germany when Steffi Graf and Boris Becker where top of the game.
Nobody has heard of pickleball in Europe. But padel will get big in Germany eventually!
Pickleball is an American sport.
@@brianyoung1075 You know sports can travel across countries right? lol
totally agree----very annoying sound!! No comparison to tennis sound ;)....enjoy all your videos! Thanks for posting great content
I’ve been playing tennis for 20+ years, but because of my asthma, I couldn’t play for extended sets. Just began playing Pickleball and I love it. I however want Tennis to stay because it really is a fun and physical sport which helps improve your health and fitness
Here is Austin most public courts are full with people waiting at peak times (evenings and weekends). Heck, they are usually taken by 7:30 or 8am in the morning as well. The tennis centers have online sign ups for reserving a court that open at 8:45am two days before and everything is taken on evenings and weekends by 8:50.
Big table tennis? Tennis is too difficult for most adults to pickup easily
Where I live, tennis courts tend to be used quite a lot. The city just replaced 3 of them and one of the high school built 4 of them about 4 or 5 years ago. They added pickleball lines on tennis courts and people share the schedule without much problem. As long as tennis courts are in use, this will be the solution: do both tennis and pickleball on the same court.
I hate seeing pickleball lines on a tennis court. Frankly, its disgusting
I love both sports very much! I hope both continue to grow!
I have played tennis for 43 years. It is the higher skilled sport and takes much more effort to see results. Given we now have younger people picking up pickleball over tennis could be due to the mind state of the younger groups not willing to put in the hard work and effort needed to improve or see progress ( we do live in a instant gratification type of world ). You can play pickleball and play a game right away so it's fun for that. I am pretty decent already and have only been out few times.
But pickleball is already changing and is becoming faster and needing more athleticism to play at a higher level. I have heard there have been more injuries to people playing pickleball over tennis as the ball bounces lower and the strain of hitting lower balls on a quicker court surface area.
But all you said is true. Tik Tokers and Millennials do not want to put in the effort to gain the skills of tennis. After over 40 years, I am always looking to improve.
No offense... But pickleball is for people who can't handle a tennisracket (finding tennis too difficult) and just want to do something that has to do with or looks like some kinda "tennis". To me it is so not cool playing with a weird plastic ball and a ping pong bat on a "court". Sorry to all people I have insulted right now.