Will Pickle and Padel be apprehensive after the Epic night in Paris yesterday?

Do you play Paddle, Pickle, Tennis or all?

  • Total voters
    11
3loudboys

3loudboys

G.O.A.T.
Tennis was saved by our new big 2 with longest RG final of the open era. 329 minutes of adrenaline fuelled drama delivered imperiously by two titans going full throttle.

Can the excellence of Jannik and Carlos arrest the trickle that had become a torrent of rec and pro tennis players moving to Pickle and Padel? For me tennis has never been more exciting since the exit of the big3 and a whole new generation of fans and players will be inspired by what they witnessed yesterday. Savage hitting, drama, an emotional rollercoaster and history being made.

Thoughts?
 
If you are not athletic, those other sports are easier to play. You don’t need to learn the textbook methods paying coaches a lot of money to play at a decent rec level. Players of different levels can still play with each other and have fun. Short formats make it more social. Those are the differences from tennis that make the other sports more compelling for many rec players. Pro tennis will do zero to influence this.

Also many tennis players also play one of the other sports. So it is not like two different groups that don’t intersect with one another.
 
Interesting thoughts, my club are proposing bringing in Padel at the expense of a tennis court possibly two and it’s split the club in half. Of the two Pickle seems more sensible for those types of players where a short format suits them better physically in that there is very low capex and quick payback for the money men.

But I have seen good players, former US college players turn their back on Tennis for an easier ride, and Im wondering whether the epic final we saw yesterday will stem the flow of genuine tennis players leaving. And the big 2 mania will continue to gain momentum and hopefully attract even more interest to the sport. Agree for older and less physically adept players they are fun games.
 
3loudboys said:
Im wondering whether the epic final we saw yesterday will stem the flow of genuine tennis players leaving.
Click to expand...
About 35 million people play pickleball in the US compared to around 20 million who play tennis. I would bet that there is an overlap of at least 5 million tennis players who also play pickleball. If you take out the players who enjoy both sports, how many of the remaining 30 million pickleball players would have been home watching a 5-hour tennis match. I don’t think the numbers would be too high.
 
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People I spoke to were turned off by the notion of a five and a half hour sporting event. I don't think tennis benefits from endless matches.
 
The longer matches appeal to different sets of fans I guess, and take the point that after a certain period of time some would have switched off or just have other things to do. Equally, if the tennis is of the quality on show yesterday there'd be plenty who watched as well. I'm not sure how long Pickle and Paddle matches can last but am guessing that they are fairly rapid given the consensus that they are predominately played by people who are physically less fit. I'm down to play Pickle at my club and looking forward to it, just wouldn't detract me from tennis so the section that overlap per @socallefty is where I will sit eventually as well.

Poll added - which do you play (y)
 
3loudboys said:
Tennis was saved by our new big 2 with longest RG final of the open era. 329 minutes of adrenaline fuelled drama delivered imperiously by two titans going full throttle.

Can the excellence of Jannik and Carlos arrest the trickle that had become a torrent of rec and pro tennis players moving to Pickle and Padel? For me tennis has never been more exciting since the exit of the big3 and a whole new generation of fans and players will be inspired by what they witnessed yesterday. Savage hitting, drama, an emotional rollercoaster and history being made.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
No, tennis is fun to watch but pickle is easy to play. Two different scenarios.
 
The Anglos get turned on by five day test matches. Even shorter games get turned into a series, so they can go for weeks.

ollinger said:
People I spoke to were turned off by the notion of a five and a half hour sporting event. I don't think tennis benefits from endless matches.
Click to expand...
 
socallefty said:
About 35 million people play pickleball in the US compared to around 20 million who play tennis. I would bet that there is an overlap of at least 5 million tennis players who also play pickleball. If you take out the players who enjoy both sports, how many of the remaining 30 million pickleball players would have been home watching a 5-hour tennis match. I don’t think the numbers would be too high.
Click to expand...
At first I was disturbed by your numbers, but then I started thinking that if there are a few less tennis players around,
I could get a good court without a reservation. The only problem would be if a tennis-only club did less maintenance because of less members.
 
Very interesting topic. From what I've noticed, pickleball is now a republican safe haven given their endorsement. I don't really mind it. Everyone deserves their thing. So for now, they are in their pickleball vibe, but if Alcaraz and Sinner continue being epic. The republicans will come to tennis as they were already in pickleball. This is where my tennis skills take over the world.
 
One thing is for sure, it's become more obvious than ever that "professional" pickleball players are either just average athletes who were never good enough to play pro tennis or they are old tennis players looking to salvage some glory at a sport that is much easier to play.
 
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atatu said:
One thing is for sure, it's become more obvious that ever that "professional" pickleball players are either just average athletes who were never good enough to play pro tennis or they are old tennis players looking to salvage some glory at a sport that is much easier to play.
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Or they are old tennis players just looking to play something other than old sad tennis or golf. No glory required. :p
 
3loudboys said:
Tennis was saved by our new big 2 with longest RG final of the open era. 329 minutes of adrenaline fuelled drama delivered imperiously by two titans going full throttle.

Can the excellence of Jannik and Carlos arrest the trickle that had become a torrent of rec and pro tennis players moving to Pickle and Padel? For me tennis has never been more exciting since the exit of the big3 and a whole new generation of fans and players will be inspired by what they witnessed yesterday. Savage hitting, drama, an emotional rollercoaster and history being made.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I just can’t believe clay court tennis has turned into “that”. They burned the “hit big to safe targets” to the ground (about time) … which is much more boring than “long matches”. That said … I did find the match looooooooong.

Regarding your question about impact on numbers, maybe distinguish between 1) starting sport as a junior … and 2) adults picking up the game. For example, I wouldn’t expect high school tennis to be replaced by high school pickleball. But … someone 30+ starting one or the other … just a numbers game. You can get reach “having fun” in pickleball quickly … and not so much in tennis. There is no substitute for the beauty of tennis singles, so you will always get big numbers from 20 year old males wanting to start/commit. That is … if you have people to play. Pickleball start is much easier … find a park, put paddle up in open play.

One clarification on pickleball being easy. It’s easy to start, but actually quite difficult to master (particularly doubles). You can play good doubles with no tennis strokes, but it’s not that quick to acquire intermediate doubles skills (paddle without strings + plastic ball with holes + in no mans on purpose + kitchen is weird skills :p).

Edit: the “movement and court coverage” part of defense is top entertainment, just not the “safe targets” part.
 
ByeByePoly said:
Or they are old tennis players just looking to play something other than old sad tennis or golf. No glory required. :p
Click to expand...
Fair enough, I think that's especially true for recreational players. Sorry, I was triggered by a guy at my club who was arguing that Tyson McGuffin (sp ?) could hang with Alcaraz and Sinner if given the chance.
 
socallefty said:
About 35 million people play pickleball in the US compared to around 20 million who play tennis. I would bet that there is an overlap of at least 5 million tennis players who also play pickleball. If you take out the players who enjoy both sports, how many of the remaining 30 million pickleball players would have been home watching a 5-hour tennis match. I don’t think the numbers would be too high.
Click to expand...
Source of that 35 million number? The source below has the number just under 20 million for 2024. The USTA put the number of US tennis players at close to 26 million for last year.

www.pickleheads.com

Pickleball Statistics - The Numbers Behind America's Fastest-Growing Sport in 2025 | Pickleheads

How many pickleball players are there in the US? How fast is the sport growing? We reveal all the answers in this in-depth report.
www.pickleheads.com www.pickleheads.com
 
SystemicAnomaly said:
Source of that 35 million number? The source below has the number just under 20 million for 2024. The USTA put the number of US tennis players at close to 26 million for last year.

www.pickleheads.com

Pickleball Statistics - The Numbers Behind America's Fastest-Growing Sport in 2025 | Pickleheads

How many pickleball players are there in the US? How fast is the sport growing? We reveal all the answers in this in-depth report.
www.pickleheads.com www.pickleheads.com
Click to expand...
I remember reading that about pickleball and tennis about a year or two ago and so that is what I had in my head. Now they claim ever higher numbers for both tennis and pickleball.

New APP Research Reveals Nearly 50 Million Adult Americans Have Played Pickleball In The Last 12 Months; Average Age Drops To 35

America’s fastest growing sport continues its meteoric rise; Updated 2023 Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP) research highlights include 19% of Americans 18+ have played pickleball in the last 12 months, a 35% increase since August 2022
www.theapp.global www.theapp.global
 
3loudboys said:
Tennis was saved by our new big 2 with longest RG final of the open era. 329 minutes of adrenaline fuelled drama delivered imperiously by two titans going full throttle.

Can the excellence of Jannik and Carlos arrest the trickle that had become a torrent of rec and pro tennis players moving to Pickle and Padel? For me tennis has never been more exciting since the exit of the big3 and a whole new generation of fans and players will be inspired by what they witnessed yesterday. Savage hitting, drama, an emotional rollercoaster and history being made.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I can’t fathom how @ByeByePoly had the nerve to post in this thread.
 
sureshs said:
No, tennis is fun to watch but pickle is easy to play. Two different scenarios.
Click to expand...
I think you're right generally but there will be some exceptions to this. Tennis clubs can struggle to balance the books and have to take opportunities for new sporting additions to their provision so Pickle and Padel can offer lucrative returns. For the same reason an average tennis player could become a top PB or Padel player and earn considerably more.

In the UK it's starting to gain momentum and I think that Pickle will outlast Padel as it's lower capital cost and easier for clubs to provide. They both provide a sport that is less technically demanding, or so tennis players would say, without so much physicality required. Take @ByeByePoly's point that mastery of Pickle at higher levels is tough.
 
3loudboys said:
I think you're right generally but there will be some exceptions to this. Tennis clubs can struggle to balance the books and have to take opportunities for new sporting additions to their provision so Pickle and Padel can offer lucrative returns. For the same reason an average tennis player could become a top PB or Padel player and earn considerably more.

In the UK it's starting to gain momentum and I think that Pickle will outlast Padel as it's lower capital cost and easier for clubs to provide. They both provide a sport that is less technically demanding, or so tennis players would say, without so much physicality required. Take @ByeByePoly's point that mastery of Pickle at higher levels is tough.
Click to expand...

The pro tennis players migrate to pro pickleball singles pretty fast, but doubles takes longer. Sock is the exception in doubles, although he supposedly played many hours with high level players before joining the pro tour.

I don’t see how Padel could be anything other than a club membership game … has to be primarily an indoor court court membership thing, and expensive to build … the Polo of racket sports. :cool:
 
ByeByePoly said:
The pro tennis players migrate to pro pickleball singles pretty fast, but doubles takes longer. Sock is the exception in doubles, although he supposedly played many hours with high level players before joining the pro tour.

I don’t see how Padel could be anything other than a club membership game … has to be primarily an indoor court court membership thing, and expensive to build … the Polo of racket sports. :cool:
Click to expand...

Such a good description ...

Btw Pickle Juice just has to be the sporting bodies recommended Pickleball nutritional supplement.

Please make this happen.
 
3loudboys said:
I think you're right generally but there will be some exceptions to this. Tennis clubs can struggle to balance the books and have to take opportunities for new sporting additions to their provision so Pickle and Padel can offer lucrative returns. For the same reason an average tennis player could become a top PB or Padel player and earn considerably more.

In the UK it's starting to gain momentum and I think that Pickle will outlast Padel as it's lower capital cost and easier for clubs to provide. They both provide a sport that is less technically demanding, or so tennis players would say, without so much physicality required. Take @ByeByePoly's point that mastery of Pickle at higher levels is tough.
Click to expand...
Average tennis player will become an average pickleball player. The story about tennis players killing it in pickleball is true only former college players or pros.
 
Well it was an epic men’s singles final, especially for those who stayed up and watched it for the whole 5 and a half hours.
Most people I spoke to here ( In Australia ) watched it till about the end of the 2nd set and then went to bed pretty much thinking that Sinner was going to win in straight sets so upon waking up in the morning were surprised and shocked that Carlitos had come back to win in 5.
As to the original question in this thread my answer is that I don’t know. One of the reasons I am taking this position is because there are many variables and perspectives that need to be discussed.
One of the comments I hear a lot from the older members of the community ( 45 and over ) who don’t really follow sports as much is that they don’t know who the young generation of tennis players are, particularly on the women’s side.
The other thing is that once the tennis caravan leaves Australia, the interest in tennis drops off and many see the next big event to be Wimbledon. The French seems to have lost a bit of prestige.
With PB and P, while it is growing in AU, particularly PB, it’s not really that big as compared to the US for instance. I have been to a couple of PB tournaments and many of the entrants are current and former tennis players and in the social scene you do get some new people taking up PB. They look like a friendly bunch.
I would say that things will just continue at present as it was before the French.
 
sureshs said:
Average tennis player will become an average pickleball player. The story about tennis players killing it in pickleball is true only former college players or pros.
Click to expand...
Had you ever heard of Alex Crum before ?
www.thedinkpickleball.com

'No Name' Upsets the #1 Player On Both Pro Tours, In One Week | Alex Crum's Historic Pickleball Run

A tennis coach & part-time rapper just walked in off the street and beat the #1 player on both pro pickleball tours. The Legend of Alex Crum.
www.thedinkpickleball.com www.thedinkpickleball.com
 
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