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Deleted member 293577
Guest
I prefer dill or sweet pickles.
Why pickleball and not touchtennis/red ball tennis, etc
- Thread starter MarinaHighTennis
- Start date
Maximus XXIV
Rookie
Any sources for Touch Tennis balls in the USA? The shipping from Europe is expensive and they want my tax ID.
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Not too long, I suspect. Roger played a fair amount of badminton, squash and table tennis in his youth. Likely would not take him long to adapt to pickleball which appears to be easier to master than tennis.From your experience, how much practice would Federer need before he could beat the world #1 touchtennis player at touchtennis?
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
@MarinaHighTennis
Pickleball is taught in a number of high schools in the area. Not just a game for seniors. My tennis-fanatic buddy moved to Minnesota early in the year. Plays pickleball now. Says they have a lot of courts there -- both outdoor and indoor.
I was introduced to Soft Tennis in the early 1980s at Cal Poly SLO by some Japanese players who were visiting for the Summer. Very easy to learn for a tennis player and fairly easy to pick for novices.
Not sure why it's never become popular outside of Asia Seems to be much more a game for the masses (like pickleball). Most ppl don't have the patience, hand-eye or sufficient athletic skills for standard tennis. They should have an easier time with Softu Tennis or Pickleball I would think.
Even badminton is easier at the novice and low intermediate levels than tennis. But difficult to reach elite levels, just like tennis
Pickleball is taught in a number of high schools in the area. Not just a game for seniors. My tennis-fanatic buddy moved to Minnesota early in the year. Plays pickleball now. Says they have a lot of courts there -- both outdoor and indoor.
I was introduced to Soft Tennis in the early 1980s at Cal Poly SLO by some Japanese players who were visiting for the Summer. Very easy to learn for a tennis player and fairly easy to pick for novices.
Not sure why it's never become popular outside of Asia Seems to be much more a game for the masses (like pickleball). Most ppl don't have the patience, hand-eye or sufficient athletic skills for standard tennis. They should have an easier time with Softu Tennis or Pickleball I would think.
Even badminton is easier at the novice and low intermediate levels than tennis. But difficult to reach elite levels, just like tennis
I have said many times that tennis lost an opportunity to promote 10-and-under tennis to 100-and-over people and allowed Tickleball to happen
I Dink Too Much
Rookie
I know this is an old thread.... The OP posted examples of four sports. Today (January 2024) those "Open Tourney finalists" in the posted example of pickleball would be rated around 4.0, in my opinion. (Most pros are rated above 5.5 today.)
The covid years really boosted pickleball participation. People were bored and wanted to do *something* outside. Pickleball's short learning curve really helps its popularity grow.
The sport has advanced quite a bit due to paddle technology. Carbon fiber faces are more gritty and allow us to produce more control on topspin and slice shots. (My tennis slices converted to returning serves in pickleball really well.)
Last year's rule change, banning the spin serve, has been another help. Two years ago I watched a tourney where a 3.0 level player had the craziest spin serve I'd ever seen. He was hitting aces -- which are rare in pickleball -- more than 50% of the time in the 4.5 bracket. All because he could snap spin on the ball, before serving it, better than anyone I'd observed. (The servers hitting those spin serves learned to hide the ball from the receiver so the receiver couldn't tell if the spin was snapped to kick right, or left. The rule change also forbid servers from hiding the ball from the receiver. As most women have smaller hands, they couldn't snap the spin like the larger handed men could.... I haven't seen that young man (maybe late 20s) in any tournaments since the rule was changed. I'm guessing he didn't like being the true 3.0 player he was....)
BUT pickleball isn't "some smaller version of tennis." Pickleball is its own sport. Be careful! Maybe -- like me -- you'll play it one time and quit tennis completely. (And I used to laugh at the silly pickleball players; now I are one.)
- Dink
The covid years really boosted pickleball participation. People were bored and wanted to do *something* outside. Pickleball's short learning curve really helps its popularity grow.
The sport has advanced quite a bit due to paddle technology. Carbon fiber faces are more gritty and allow us to produce more control on topspin and slice shots. (My tennis slices converted to returning serves in pickleball really well.)
Last year's rule change, banning the spin serve, has been another help. Two years ago I watched a tourney where a 3.0 level player had the craziest spin serve I'd ever seen. He was hitting aces -- which are rare in pickleball -- more than 50% of the time in the 4.5 bracket. All because he could snap spin on the ball, before serving it, better than anyone I'd observed. (The servers hitting those spin serves learned to hide the ball from the receiver so the receiver couldn't tell if the spin was snapped to kick right, or left. The rule change also forbid servers from hiding the ball from the receiver. As most women have smaller hands, they couldn't snap the spin like the larger handed men could.... I haven't seen that young man (maybe late 20s) in any tournaments since the rule was changed. I'm guessing he didn't like being the true 3.0 player he was....)
BUT pickleball isn't "some smaller version of tennis." Pickleball is its own sport. Be careful! Maybe -- like me -- you'll play it one time and quit tennis completely. (And I used to laugh at the silly pickleball players; now I are one.)
- Dink
Nah. I play Pickle like once in a week or in 2 weeks, but tennis is still my thing.
