1970s Battle of the Racket Stars on TV: How Would Picklers Do?

[I Dink Too Much]

A good number of tennis players over on the tennis side of the forum do not appreciate the sport of pickleball. That is their right, of course.

One of the more ... energetic ... discussions reminded me of a (short-lived) '70s TV show. It was a racket sports version of the Battle of the Network Stars goofy competitions. I think it was on CBS. They managed to get Borg to participate ... or it wouldn't have "sold" to the public.

Back then the sports were Badminton, Racquetball, Squash, Table Tennis and Tennis. The stars competed in all BUT their own sport, to see what racket sport was the most versatile(?). An Indian squash player, Khan, won it the first year ... and the second-and-last year. (Borg won the badminton bracket, if I recall correctly.)

I remember being pretty sure the winner would be Borg ... or the racquetball guy. And being astonished at how good Khan was at the sports other than his (Squash).

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So ... if this type of competition were to be held today, (a) what "racket sports" should be in it? and (b) how do you think the pickler would do?

Badminton, Padel, Pickleball, Racquetball, Squash, Table Tennis, Tennis, Touch Tennis ... what did I miss?

- Dink

 

[HeIsTreeing]

a) I like your list, I also have always liked the idea of putting an average person in competitions for comparison
b) Most professional pickleball players have a background in tennis but they are not as good at tennis as the professional tennis players. I don't see a sport in that list other than pickleball that an atp/challengers/futures tennis player should not beat a professional pickleballer. Not only is the skill ceiling lower in pickleball, it falls directly below tennis' ceiling because the skills are too similar, theres such a small learning curve for tennis players to pickleball.

- Stink

 

[I Dink Too Much]

I suspect the Squash or Touch Tennis player would be the strongest. Squash, based on Khan's domination in the '70s. Touch Tennis because it seems to be the "largest common denominator" for the listed sports. (I don't know why it's called "Touch" Tennis. Every video I've seen of it, the players are smacking the stuffing out of the ball; seems like very little "touch" is involved.)

Even though I'm a pickler, I do not believe the pickleball player would score among the leaders. The pickler may win the Table Tennis event ... and vice versa. But that would be the pickler's "shining moment."

I also think pickleball would be the most difficult sport for the other players. As a former tennis player, the pickleball scoring was really foreign for me. And because I was a natural S&V tennis player, the rule about allowing the return of serve to bounce was probably my biggest challenge.

Tennis players, table tennis players and racquetball players clearly have a much shorter learning curve for pickleball. But it's merely "shorter". Many tennis players sneer at pickleball and believe they'd be great at it ... if they cared to even try. I've seen a few tennis players try it out, expecting pickleball to be easy; they get frustrated very quickly.

- Dink

 

[HeIsTreeing]

"I also think pickleball would be the most difficult sport for the other players. As a former tennis player, the pickleball scoring was really foreign for me. And because I was a natural S&V tennis player, the rule about allowing the return of serve to bounce was probably my biggest challenge."
- No disrespect but if the hard part about your sport are learning the rules its prob not very hard to play. The game show would go over the rules.

"Many tennis players sneer at pickleball and believe they'd be great at it ... if they cared to even try. I've seen a few tennis players try it out, expecting pickleball to be easy; they get frustrated very quickly."
- I think a quality tennis player would have no problem with pickleball (UTR 6+) but then worse tennis players say the same thing because of inflated egos and they suck at pickleball too

- Stink

 

[I Dink Too Much]

a) I like your list, I also have always liked the idea of putting an average person in competitions for comparison

THAT's an intriguing idea. I like it!

b) Most professional pickleball players have a background in tennis ...

I believe this is accurate ... although Ben Johns (The Top Dog for the last few years, comes from table tennis).

... but they are not as good at tennis as the professional tennis players

And Sam Querrey, former #11 in tennis, thought he'd be dominating pickleball "in three months." It's been over a year since he made such a boast; he's made it to #27 in pickleball, which IS impressive to me.

I don't see a sport in that list other than pickleball that an atp/challengers/futures tennis player should not beat a professional pickleballer.

Hence, the reason for my OP. I couldn't believe a squash player(!) won the 1970s version ... twice!

Not only is the skill ceiling lower in pickleball ...

You don't play pickleball, do you?

... it falls directly below tennis' ceiling because the skills are too similar, theres such a small learning curve for tennis players to pickleball.

A lot of tennis players agree with you.

- Stink

Ha-ha! I like your signature.

 

[HeIsTreeing]

l

 

[I Dink Too Much]

I think a quality tennis player would have no problem with pickleball (UTR 6+)

There's a former Div I (and former pro) tennis player who has a youtube channel called (I think) "Intuitive Tennis." He posted a video with his critique of pickleball ... stated it's an easy game for good tennis players ... demonstrated his "amazing skill" for about three points where he was the server. The trouble was, he served & volleyed each of his service points ... and HE thought he'd won those points. In fact he'd lost each point because he didn't allow the return to bounce.

A poster pointed that out in the replies. He never responded

... but then worse tennis players say the same thing because of inflated egos and they suck at pickleball too

- Stink

- Dink

 

[I Dink Too Much]

- Querrey was a servebot

I don't know what you mean by this.

- Dink

 

[HeIsTreeing]

p

 

[I Dink Too Much]

... If that dude knew the rules could you beat him?

Ha! Hypotheticals are "Lose - Lose" scenarios. The truth is, we just don't know.

I'm good ... for my age. (My DUPR was 4.31 last summer.) But I'm 67 and not nearly as fit as that guy ... who is only 46 years old. (I found him: Nikola Aracic, Croatian (46) earned almost $400 on the ATP tour; teaching pro in FL. Apparently he was a better doubles player than singles. (Me, too.))

Even though I was a scholarship tennis player, my best tennis was played from age 38-45, where I peaked at a 5.0 NTRP.

The #3 pickleball player, Tyson McGuffin, was a 5.0 tennis player before switching to pickleball. His first time on the court, some senior citizens EMBARRASSED him. That drove him to take lessons and drill like crazy in pickleball. (He proudly tells anyone who will listen he returned to those rec courts and *destroyed* all those senior citizens about six weeks later.)

If Nik Aracic was that driven, I'm sure he could excel in pickleball ... and smoke me(!). Pickleball is easy to learn; difficult to master. (Tennis is really difficult to learn; difficult to master.)

I won several tennis tourneys as a Junior. I never won a tournament after college ... but I was still a much better player years after college. Playing Age Group tournaments (not NTRP) was a real eye-opener!

I played four pickleball tournaments last summer. I medaled in all of them. Silver in Singles in one is still more important to me than Gold in Dubs in two. But pickleball tourneys are organized by both age and DUPR, so you're playing people "in" your skill and age level. There's a clear difference between a 22 year-old 4.5 ... and a 65 year-old 4.5. Anyone who tells you differently is mistaken.

Servebot means that theyre serve was good enough to lift them above the level that their other shots are. Opelka, Karlovic and Isner were great servebots holding serve often and easily

Okay, thanks. But Querrey was a very good Dubs player; that translates well to pickleball. (But pickleball singles is "more" like tennis than pickleball doubles is.)

I suspect a lot of tennis people would say that about Roddick, too. But when Roddick first hit the scene (2008, I think) it was his forehand which confounded so many of the top players. I still recall him BLASTING forehands -- from eight feet behind the baseline -- which were clear winners against Fernando Gonzalez, one of the greatest baseliners in the game at the time. (US Open debut for Andy, IIRC.) Gonzalez was amazed at what "this kid" was doing with that forehand. I also remember (I think it was the '09 US Open) Roddick hitting a serve which hit this Spanish kid, Nadal, in the chest and nearly knocked him down(!). I literally laughed out loud at the ticked-off Spaniard. I was sure that Spanish kid would have a brief career ... so you know how good *I* am at predictions....


- Dink

 

[HeIsTreeing]

l

 

[HeIsTreeing]

 

[HeIsTreeing]

Idk if this is even notable, sock's been playing PB for 4 years now

 

[Bud]

Incredible athleticism by both players