How Many Accomplished Tennis Players Would Agree With My Pickleball Rule Changes?

[Lorenn]

1) Scrap the kitchen and make the court 3-4 feet wider, 6 feet longer (rationale: more ability to hit passing shots, lob becomes a bigger threat, gets rid of boring dink play).
Have you ever seen tennis players drop shotting each other over and over again?

2) Scrap the server "bounce" rule (rationale: allow for classic serve & volley play and make the game more exciting and athletic).

3) Scrap the rules against paddle surface being tacky and/or rough (rationale: allow for more skilled player control over the ball with spin, just like in tennis and ping pong).

4) Change the ball composition to 1) work with "grippier" paddles, and 2) to make for a less repulsive sound at impact (rationale: same as above)

IMHO, the game will become more exciting and spectator friendly with these simple rule changes. Perhaps baseline rallies may emerge, which leads to strategizing and more spectacular shotmaking!
New pickleball court housing developments will have less legal strife from noise issues.

I'd like to hear your comments!

Why play pickleball then? Just play one of the many Tennis light games. The reason pickleball is doing well is almost anyone can play and do reasonably well. IF you make the game seriously "athletic" it ruins that point. It is easy to set up courts and handle a large number of players. Making the game more of a hybrid social/skill contest not mostly athletic. Maybe it needs to be tennis light to grow into a major sport, but right now I think it is a better game without those changes as it offers something the other tennis lights games don't. It is fun for new players.

 

[ByeByePoly]

Why play pickleball then? Just play one of the many Tennis light games. The reason pickleball is doing well is almost anyone can play and do reasonably well. IF you make the game seriously "athletic" it ruins that point. It is easy to set up courts and handle a large number of players. Making the game more of a hybrid social/skill contest not mostly athletic. Maybe it needs to be tennis light to grow into a major sport, but right now I think it is a better game without those changes as it offers something the other tennis lights games don't. It is fun for new players.

I play open play three times a week. Yes social … but definitely also a sorting by skill level. Perhaps the distinction would be it’s a fun game almost anyone could find an open court with friends and play … but not really in open play depending on players and the way open play is managed (or not managed).

Also … as I posted recently … the social part works in open play (when it does) because stronger players pull their punches/athletic ability. They choose not to smash newbie at kitchen … it could be very unsocial.

Just for the record … coming from tennis where I only played with my level, I love the social aspect of open play. But the other side of that is getting your competition fix. Since much of the “social” aspect is discretion by the more skilled players, I don’t see why that discretion would change from rules changes. And if you are at the park starting … not sure it changes your experience that much.

Just an alternative thought … from someone who finds fault in the games current rules that virtually eliminates baseline skills in pickleball doubles.

 

[Lorenn]

I play open play three times a week. Yes social … but definitely also a sorting by skill level. Perhaps the distinction would be it’s a fun game almost anyone could find an open court with friends and play … but not really in open play depending on players and the way open play is managed (or not managed).

Also … as I posted recently … the social part works in open play (when it does) because stronger players pull their punches/athletic ability. They choose not to smash newbie at kitchen … it could be very unsocial.

Just for the record … coming from tennis where I only played with my level, I love the social aspect of open play. But the other side of that is getting your competition fix. Since much of the “social” aspect is discretion by the more skilled players, I don’t see why that discretion would change from rules changes. And if you are at the park starting … not sure it changes your experience that much.

Just an alternative thought … from someone who finds fault in the games current rules that virtually eliminates baseline skills in pickleball doubles.

The three groups I play with never sorted open play.(20+ players) They simple rotate. Group ranges from players which win at the 5.0 level down to people who walked in today. Very new players might get pulled to the side and rotated among the nicer players. Pro game influences even rec play. How annoying the Durafast only players were when it was the only tourney ball. Age ranges from very young to well retired. Ultra competitive players get some fix as they will rotate into stronger players. They also tend to play in local tourneys and will schedule matches against the other groups. Open play for pickleball has always been friendly in my neck of the woods.

I think it is nice that there is a game where a whole family can play and have fun.

 

[ByeByePoly]

The three groups I play with never sorted open play.(20+ players) They simple rotate. Group ranges from players which win at the 5.0 level down to people who walked in today. Very new players might get pulled to the side and rotated among the nicer players. Pro game influences even rec play. How annoying the Durafast only players were when it was the only tourney ball. Age ranges from very young to well retired. Ultra competitive players get some fix as they will rotate into stronger players. They also tend to play in local tourneys and will schedule matches against the other groups. Open play for pickleball has always been friendly in my neck of the woods.

I think it is nice that there is a game where a whole family and can play and have fun.

By “sorted” I mean in our 3 courts of open play, players tend to sort themselves to some degree. Higher level players will put up their 4 paddles together, maybe newbies gather on 3rd court, rest picks and chooses where to put paddle up.

Open play is an unusual social experiment. You could set it up anyway you want … totally random partner draw, or a system where players of similar skill levels get their competition fix to one degree or another. If a newbie can barely get a ball over … what is the solution at a place you pay a monthly membership? Perhaps the answer is only leagues with extra fees is the answer. It was with my indoor tennis … no such thing as open play tennis.

What we have now isn’t perfect … but most days intermediates get to play two hours good pickleball in open play.

 

[Lorenn]

Why not change the scoring format to be shorter and faster-paced?

Not everyone is in a rush? The game would maybe feel too short. Ignoring the best of three a game is what 10-25 minutes normally? How long is a set in tennis? How long should a game be? If players like it they will switch...

 

[Lorenn]

By “sorted” I mean in our 3 courts of open play, players tend to sort themselves to some degree. Higher level players will put up their 4 paddles together, maybe newbies gather on 3rd court, rest picks and chooses where to put paddle up.

Open play is an unusual social experiment. You could set it up anyway you want … totally random partner draw, or a system where players of similar skill levels get their competition fix to one degree or another. If a newbie can barely get a ball over … what is the solution at a place you pay a monthly membership? Perhaps the answer is only leagues with extra fees is the answer. It was with my indoor tennis … no such thing as open play tennis.

What we have now isn’t perfect … but most days intermediates get to play two hours good pickleball in open play.

Always nice to hear how other play. Our rotations are more random than yours. SO the good players can't just play other good players. WE never had trouble with new members as we had a quite a few players who didn't mind playing with new players. Monthly membership is going to be difficult. Once people pay they have expectations. The groups I played with were all very kind to new players.

 

[ByeByePoly]

Always nice to hear how other play. Our rotations are more random than yours. SO the good players can't just play other good players. WE never had trouble with new members as we had a quite a few players who didn't mind playing with new players. Monthly membership is going to be difficult for sure as once people pay they have expectations. The groups I played with were all very kind to new players.

Oh … almost everyone is nice to everyone, but some do take offense to the cool kids playing together.

I have no idea how I would set it up … we like mixing it up getting our competition fix and playing other more relaxed games. From a selfish standpoint … I hope we never have to play night leagues … morning open play hours preferred.

 

[Bud]

Not everyone is in a rush? The game would maybe feel too short. Ignoring the best of three a game is what 10-25 minutes normally? How long is a set in tennis? How long should a game be? If players like it they will switch...

It should be rally scoring to 21 in singles and doubles kept as side-out scoring to 11, IMO.

 

[a10best]

Except for #1 this already exists with Spec Tennis, which uses existing pickleball courts. Biggest problem with Spec Tennis is few know about it or play it and the vast majority of both tennis and pickleball players are not interested in it. Same problem with Pop Tennis and Paddle Tennis. If there was Spec, Pop, and Paddle tennis nearby and with plenty of players I would play it but now I just play pickleball and tennis because there are easily accessible places to play every day.

Pop Tennis uses the junior lines already there on most tennis courts and Paddle Tennis uses a longer court than pickleball. Both use the green dot ball and Spec uses the orange dot. These sports already exist that use your ideas but have no momentum of popularity. I've only seen people play paddle tennis in LA and it seems like a snobby country club sport here in Atlanta.

It is unfortunate there's not more Pop and Paddle tennis courts. I think it's more exciting that pickel which I won't be playing anytime soon.

1) Scrap the kitchen and make the court 3-4 feet wider, 6 feet longer (rationale: more ability to hit passing shots, lob becomes a bigger threat, gets rid of boring dink play).
Have you ever seen tennis players drop shotting each other over and over again?

2) Scrap the server "bounce" rule (rationale: allow for classic serve & volley play and make the game more exciting and athletic).

3) Scrap the rules against paddle surface being tacky and/or rough (rationale: allow for more skilled player control over the ball with spin, just like in tennis and ping pong).

4) Change the ball composition to 1) work with "grippier" paddles, and 2) to make for a less repulsive sound at impact (rationale: same as above)

IMHO, the game will become more exciting and spectator friendly with these simple rule changes. Perhaps baseline rallies may emerge, which leads to strategizing and more spectacular shotmaking!
New pickleball court housing developments will have less legal strife from noise issues.

I'd like to hear your comments!

Yes, #1 and #4. This would make it more like paddle or pop tennis.

 

[Bud]

It is unfortunate there's not more Pop and Paddle tennis courts. I think it's more exciting that pickel which I won't be playing anytime soon.

Yes, #1 and #4. This would make it more like paddle or pop tennis.

Pickleball is its own game and shouldn't be like anything else.

 

[I Dink Too Much]

If you suggest to pickleball players to make it more like tennis they will reply it is fine the way it is and go play tennis instead. I agree with this video that tennis is superior to pickleball but he also touches on the point that pickleball is more fun than tennis.
[Some formerly good tennis player's youtube video]

I watched his whole video. I didn't agree with a single point he made.

(I, too, was a scholarship tennis player. But I got a lot better AFTER college.)

 

[I Dink Too Much]

That Intuitive Tennis guy has another video (Something like "Tennis Has a Pickleball Problem.") In that video he talks about how easy pickleball is for him; he shows about four points he played. Each of the points in which he's the server he serves and volleys, and does a fist pump for "winning" those points.

But he lost each of the points he served. In pickleball the server must let the return bounce.

"Oh well...!"