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In summary, this is "scooter kids at the skate park" of tennis

I think the biggest thing that benefits pickleball is its low barrier for entry. As a long time tennis player it's much easier to get people who have never played to try out pickleball since its easy simple and the technique required to play at a base "fun" level is significantly lower. I will always continue to prefer tennis due to the depth and complexity but whenever I can get four random friends together pickleball is a significantly easier and more fun adventure to go on.

"Low skill barrier" about sums it all up

It's cheaper, requires less space, and it can be played really easily by beginners. Also the closer confines make it more social. When you play tennis you are about 50 feet from who you are playing with but when you play pickleball they are very close so you can have a casual conversation as you casually play.

Pickleball might be popular in the United States, but i never heard of it outside of that country. Padel is really popular in Spain and Argentina and its getting bigger every time for maybe the same reasons

You forgot to mention that pickle ball is 10x easier to learn and become proficient at. As an avid tennis player, the main flaw of tennis is that it’s very hard to get even just ok at the sport. It’s not very fun before that point. Anyone can play pickle ball though.

Pickleball is like the love child of table tennis and tennis. The small size of table tennis mixed with big tennis fundamentals and low barrier of entry can fuse the two sports into getting more players. I see pickleball players getting good enough to want to make the jump to either table tennis or tennis themselves.

I don't play either but I used to see empty tennis courts at the parks by me all the time. I never see any empty pickleball courts if the weather is decent. It just makes more sense for public parks to make the tennis courts into pickleball courts.

As an avid tennis player and coach, I have nothing against pickleball I play it occasionally and its a lot of fun. The thing I do have a problem with is when people try to put lines on tennis courts, very rarely you will see people attempt to put pickleball lines on a tennis court and not screw it up either they use tape and its to thick that it will cause bad bounces when playing tennis or the paint will be all over the place and not even having straight lines making the court an eyesore. I do think its a good idea to add pickleball lines to tennis courts especially in these big facilities that have 20+ courts

This is a great video. I play tennis 3-4 times a week plus USTA matches and I occasionally play pickleball with friends. It is always fun and I can understand the mass appeal. The video said it best: 1. low skill barrier, 2. any fitness level, and 3. budget conscious. It is the activity for the masses. Tennis is the complete opposite of this in an extreme way.

Pickleball isn't just taking over tennis courts. Where I live, the issue is that older people who happen to be on civic commissions who happen to like pickleball have taken out things like hockey rinks, skate parks, and other areas used by youth to put in pickleball courts instead to serve their own interests. Its infuriating as pickleball can easily be played in a gym, many area churches already use their gyms for this, while these other activities don't have other decent natural outlets.

My grandmother lives in a condo building that just converted one of its tennis courts to pickle ball and she said the noise is insane, the courts are surrounded by tall buildings so the noise bounces and travels up.

The financial side of it makes it more interesting. So few players can make it through future’s and challenger events to make tennis financially viable.

Cult tennis once again does not fail when it comes to making an absolute banger of a video

The mismanagement of tennis streaming is really killing people’s engagement with the sport. I wish a whole video was made on that because it’s ridiculous how many different barriers there are to watch 1 match. Not to mention college tennis or ITF which is a whole other mess in itself

The park down my street had two tennis courts. For years they would sit mostly empty, with someone playing less than once a week. Then one was converted to a set of pickleball courts. Those courts were full almost every day with pickleball players and there was usually a wait to get on the court in the evening after work. So, the city converted the other tennis court as well. Now that park doesn;t have tennis at all. Times change. You don't see many bowling alleys any longer either.

Doesn't look like Pickleball (or padel/beach tennis...) is steering tennis players away from tennis BUT it might take surface area away from tennis. And that is a real threat for tennis.

The skill floor in pickleball is very high. It's not that hard to keep a rally going, and even if you're fat and unathletic, you can play semi-competently. In tennis, that's not the case at all. It's actually quite difficult to even have a 6 ball rally in tennis, let alone try to win the point, rather than just keep the ball in. I think that accessibility is a big part of what makes pickleball attractive.

It’s kind of sad what the state of tennis courts are like at the high schools around me. A lot of them just have multiple cracks on each court and the only one that doesn’t have multiple cracks is starting to show cracks!

I played tennis in high school and it's still my favorite sport. Of course I scoffed at pickleball. But my local high school has 8 courts largely unused, and I tried hooking up with players online for matches without much luck. On the other hand, pickleball courts are jammed, and the game is much more social and quite fun. I now play on a ladder league and I look forward to match day eagerly. It's simply easier to get a game and quite challenging as you level up.

Reminds me of when rollerblading got really popular

It's hard because I am on the fence with this sport. Any racket sport has my admiration but it's hard seeing tennis courts losing their space. I have also recently befriended a pro Pickleball player who taught me the game which I am grateful for. Plus, a lot of older people are becoming active again and seeing them light up from joy is hard to hate.

This is like if disc golf and ball golf players had to fight over courses getting converted, lmao

Pickleball doesn't rely on viewership. It's more of a drinking game or hobbie. Tennis has a bad monetization strategy and is too much for the average person to casually play. Especially while drinking or being social.

Also a Padel problem (in Europe)

As others said, Pickleball seems to be an amercian 'problem'. Here too Padel is entering the scene, and honestly, it might be needed to keep tennis afloat. I've seen a fair number of tenniscenters struggling with upkeep because fewer and fewer members are ready to pay full membership. So rather than the center closing alltogether, I think it's better to repurpose extra space into something that can generate more money. As long as tennis remains the main focus there should not be an issue

We have something similar in Germany, it's called Speckbrett ( literally "cutting board for ham") because they used to use cutting boards as rackets. The court is only a bit smaller than tennis and it still uses a tennis ball so it is not as loud as pickleball.

I played my first game of pickleball this past Thanksgiving week. I was amazed at the ease of entry. I used to play tennis up to my teens, so I know what that game is like. My sister and I were able to buy 2 decent PB paddles and a set of balls at Wal-Mart for $70 total (paddles started at $9.99, we bought the $30 ones). We went down to the local rec center and were playing rallies within 15 minutes. I'm 55. I have not picked up a racket of any kind in 40 years, my sister has never played and within an hour we were playing real games and keeping score and everything. To get to the same level in tennis my sister and I would have to take months of lessons. The beauty of the game is that literally anyone from age 8 to 80 can pick up a paddle and be playing in a few minutes. I was able to play with my 74 year old mother and we had a great time. There is no way she could play tennis at her age. Obviously, tennis is the more dynamic sport. It has greater dept at the pro level and is more enjoyable to watch on TV. I agree that PB doubles on TV looks dumb and boring. PB singles on the other hand is pretty interesting to watch. At the recreational up to league level there is a lot to be said for pickleball. The sad thing about tennis is that because of the cost of entry and the skills needed it has turned itself into an elitist sport, similar to golf. I'm sold on pickleball. I can't wait to get a little better so I can join a local league myself.

In Brazil it is the beach tennis. Tennis has never been popular here, but many many football courts have been switching to BT. It has been also getting a lot of attention from public and business. Note that people that have never had any sport experience in life have been training and playing on amateur leagues of BT. This is very motivating for people of every age and gender to start a sport after adult and feel the challenge of training, preparing for a tournament, things that in tennis for example would be only reserved for top players on their peak of fit and tecnics

The bottom line: drive by any tennis court and it is most likely empty. Drive by any pickleball court and it is likely full of players. Pickleball is good for America because people actually go out and play which is good for health. Why? Tennis and Ping Pong (table tennis) take quite a bit of time and practice just to be able to keep the ball on the court/table. It takes a long before it gets to be fun. Anybody can have fun their first or second time playing pickleball but there is still plenty of challenge. Pickleball is easy to get started but hard to get good. Another huge advantage to pickleball is that a paddle can last for 10 years and the ball is good for a few weeks. Those crazy tennis balls don't last nearly as long. I'm a long time table tennsi player and I've switched to pickleball.

I really think there is an easier answer. Pickleball is just a lot easier. You don't have to be in shape or have much skill to play it. The average person can't pick up a tennis racket and perform 7/10 serves that land in the box. The average person can do everything in pickleball though. That simplicity is it's biggest strength. The issue isn't that pickleball is growing in popularity (especially as a casual recreation). The problem is who cities and parks are trying to add pickleball courts. I never saw an issue with painting some extra lines in a different color on the tennis courts. That was smart. You get to use that court for whichever group shows up to use it, great. The issue came when places start adding pickleball ONLY courts (often times by removing a tennis court). Where I live, a park generally only has 2 tennis courts. When those courts are full, you have to drive to the next park. It's not uncommon to find the courts are full. But now that issue has only gotten worse as tennis courts get replaced. It would be one thing if the demand for tennis courts weren't there but we literally have to drive around to find the open courts already. The answer isn't removing tennis courts to get pickleball. We just need more courts.

Like others have said here in the comments: Tennis has a padel problem. In Chile it didn't exist 2 years ago and now is huge. Most of my tennis playing friends are playing more padel than tennis. In the UK and Sweden is getting bigger and bigger and even in Australia is getting more popular. Ahh and in Kuwait, Qatar and UAE is huge also.

All these people are joining pickle ball because of a few things. 1: it’s way easier. 2: it does not have the pretentious stereotype. 3: because it’s so new everyone is just starting so skill levels are much closer between so more people can play together together.

I used to play pickleball with my parents every week pre-Covid. I'm guessing a little less than half the people we played with were current or former tennis people. Some enjoyed both, others got too old for the physical demands of tennis. I never once got the feeling there was a rivalry or anything.

The noise of 1000 pickleball courts pales in comparison to two tennis players screaming every time they swing 😂

The quality editing, the thoughtful story telling, instant subscribe!

Nice analysis! You might need to add that tennis can be played in different surfaces like grass and clay courts while pickle ball can only played in hardcourt or maybe some kind of wooden surface.

A great video. Thanks for spending so much time putting it together!

Very well put. The irony of all of this (in my case) is that I only heard of this channel because I play and watch pickleball videos on YT, and therefore have been recommended other racket/paddle sport videos. Having grown up with table tennis, taking up pickleball has reinvigorated an interest in other similar sports, so I may start playing tennis at some point. It's possible that PB could help tennis in the long run.

As a competitive tennis player, I did try some pickleball. Just not for me, but I am all for it if it’s gets people on the court who wouldn’t ordinarily be active. My club has converted 3 courts into 12 pickleball courts and they are jammed. I have also played Padel and really enjoyed it. Much faster and athletic than pickleball. Great sport.

Your videos are so so good. Thanks man. Learned a lot

Just as tennis rackets (and I assume the governing rules changed) in the late 1970's to allow larger beginner friendly rackets, there is room for pickleball to introduce some technology to reduce noise. Particularly the rackets. If a new quiet design is developed, even if not as playable as the current, ones are, the new technology can be mandated. Many sports have required certain technologies to improve the sport, such as restrictions in motor racing, and certain club designs in golf.

Up until 2 years ago I had never heard of pickleball, and when my tennis club installed 2 new pickleball courts I thought they were baby courts for the junior groups

Great video! Next time you should cover Padel, which is very popular in some parts in Europe and makes a great competitive sport

id love to see Real Tennis become the next popular racket sport. for anyone unaware its the original version of tennis played in a special indoor court, where hitting off of the walls is allowed (and from what i can tell, there is no real out of bounds other than the stands) and other odd rules

As a 58 year old tennis player, I still enjoy tennis more than pickleball. But sometimes my knees look over at the pickleball players on the court next to us with envy. But most pickleball players seem old to me. The courts in my community are marked for both, which is sometimes frustrating as a tennis player.

I know I'm biased because I'm a tennis player, but I just can't shake the feeling that pickleball in the long run won't be financially viable. There's been some heavy investments by celebrities, media giants and corporate sponsors, but pickleball is boring to watch on TV (especially doubles) which the primary medium they are relying on. And if the interest isn't there, than you're pouring money away on nothing, and you can only spend more than you make for so long. In other words, it feels too much like a regional trend, and won't have much appeal outside the US, like Padel.

Donald Young went to play pickleball? What a downfall....

The visuals in this video were amazing. Please give whoever did the visuals and editing a raise.

The majority of people just want to have fun playing a game. To the average player, tennis can be fun when you are young and have an aptitude for play. I don't know much about Pickleball but it looks like it is fun for all ages, you don't have to have an "aptitude" for it to play, and I imagine there is less "running after balls". Maybe they can fix the noise levels by applying Ping-Pong padding material to the rackets.

Tennis IN THE US has a Pickleball Problem, nobody outside of the US plays this

Cult Tennis always crushes it with these videos! This one was no different. Great video right here!

They just set up some pickleball courts at my gym. I should give it a try. It seems like it'll help with my reaction time at the net. Plus, it looks easier to learn, so maybe I can play with my wife.

“No skill barrier” sums it up perfectly.

my local tennis club was recently sold to a pickleball company and it honestly pisses me off. I have played tennis there for years and it feels really strange that the tennis courts I loved for so long will be gone.

And let’s not forget the massive growth of Padel worldwide. Amazing spectator sport. More entertaining to watch on tv than Pickleball.

I don't know. In sweden we have a relatively new sport called padel, which is a mix between racket ball and tennis. I don't know how similar it is to pickleball but it also started taking over tennis for a few years. But now most of the padel courts stand empty, and people keep playing tennis.

I personally like both sports. There really doesn’t need to be turf war. They can both coexist. Heck, pickelball might be a gateway for more kids playing racket sports. It could increase tennis players nationally in a couple decades.

I know coming up with new interesting videos for Tennis must be a daunting task.. so I cherish each video this man produces :') appreciate the effort !

I've always taken the stance that anything that draws people into something you like is a good thing. For example, I box, and a lot of boxers complain about the Paul brothers and all these UKpostsrs boxing, but if it gets kids into boxing, I see it as a good thing.

I was searching UKposts cause I wanted to get into tennis but then saw this video. I drive by tennis courts on the way home and they were always empty. They converted one to some pickleball courts and I now see people playing every day I'm heading home from work.

My college converted one of the tennis courts into four pickleball courts. They are constantly full in the afternoons while the 7 remaining tennis courts are only full when the varsity and/or club teams are practicing. I had never played pickleball before, but had played some tennis when I was younger, and within maybe 3 sessions I was able to be competitive with my friends who had played 10x as much. I find it really fun to play, but I would never watch it.

The rise in pickleball is interesting to me. I graduated highschool in 2006 and we played it all 4 of my highschool years. I’ve been wanting to play it but could never find courts.

It's insane to me that college tennis hasn't been capitalized. A shame really

Excellent elucidation. Haven't played tennis since high school in '72. Been wondering what this pickleball stuff is. A couple notes on the sound thing: 10 db can be a lot. Both our ears and the db sale are logarithmic. A 3 db change is the smallest that we can easily hear, and it takes twice the power to get a 3 db increase. So a 100 watt amp is only 3 db louder than a 50 watt amp. NOT twice as loud. So a 10-12 db change in sound pressure level is a BIG change in the power being applied. As you might guess, the closer you get to 100 db, the more radical those changes are. 100 db is jackhammer/jet engine territory.

The other day my city announced they were building brand new pickleball courts in a park and now I'm hearing about it everywhere even though I've never heard of it before then.

Honestly, my biggest annoyance with pickleball is that if they're at my local courts, the wiffleballs blow into my court really easily AND the sound of the ball hitting the paddle annoys the hell out of me. Especially when I'm trying to serve. Idk why but it does.

I remember playing pickleball in gym class around 2012/13 and hated it, it came around late last year hearing people talking about it and taking it seriously

padel is taking over. packed with action and amazing dramatic shots in each single rally. fun to watch and play

I work at both a park and a community center. The center has court lines for pickleball and the park will be getting courts in the next few months. They center gym times for pickleball are always packed and the programs fill up within a week of registration going live. We actually had to stop selling guest passes for it because there were so many people it got out of control. I can’t imagine how it’s going to be at the park this summer.

Stellar video. I play both; Pickle is fun too, but Tennis will always reign Supreme.

I think it's funny referring to the two sides as "refusing to coexist" when from my experience I see pickleball players just wanting a place to play and tennis players just not wanting pickleball players to have a place to play. That might just be my experience but I don't see a lot of hostility come from the pickleball side.

They had pickleball at our swim club back in the 80's-90's and there was a group of old dudes that took it really serious and had tournaments. I somehow started playing with them as a young kid and was actually pretty good, but we played with racquetball racquets instead of the paddles. It's way way better that way. I recently tried playing with the proper paddles and it was awful, especially the sound. Maybe when I'm too old to enjoy tennis anymore I'll try it again, but until then, I'm sticking with tennis.😂

The intro is how I feel about disc golf lol

Im from Europe and the exact same phenomenon is happening but with Padel instead of pickleball. Super interesting

Pickleball is boring to watch but 1vs1 is honestly fun to play.. Ps i like playing tennis and pickleball or padel can involve people to racket sport

I have an idea for a video: Could you or someone else do an "iceberg" video on Tennis? The sport interests me, but i have little to no clue about the history, strategies, and drama. It would serve as a nice introduction to the sport.

Well, in Argentina in the 90's everybody wanted to play Paddle, there were courts everywhere. Now only a couple survive. Maybe is the same case, maybe not.

Legendary video as always! Everything inch perfect. I'm honestly very worried about Tennis from the insane rise of Padel as well. I think it's even more dangerous than pickleball too at this point.

Good video. As a longtime tennis player who recently got into pickleball (more due to availability than any other reason), I really hope some of the "wars" between the two end soon. Both are awesome for different reasons.

I notice in SE-Asia esp in Sg, it is played on a badminton court.

Just come to Europe we have never even heard of pickelball

The noise of pickleball sounds annoying, to me, when the tennis ball meets the strings theres a relaxing pop rather than a hard impact against 2 hard surfaces

Excellent video! Thank you

There’s also Paddel here in Europe. It’s growing like crazy.

At my city, I find many people playing Beach Tennis insted

Pickleball is simple to get into and much slower paced. The level between an intermediate and a beginner is not as wide as in tennis. It's a much more welcoming sport, but it also means that at the very highest level, it's not much higher than most advanced players. I feel like it's really caught on in America because it's a low-fitness sport and a lot of celebrities can also play it without looking like idiots. I'm not sure pickleball is as viable in, say 10 years, and I doubt it'll catch on globally. Plus, because pickleball tends to be more boring to watch, even though investments are high now, when they see that it's not realizing financial returns, the investments will drop. Tennis has a visibility problem and pickeball doesn't. Imo that's the biggest difference.

I was wondering if you could make a video on Padel, a very popular racket sport in Spain and Argentina that is a bit like tennis, a bit like pickleball, but also with playable walls. It's my personal favorite racket sport, lower barrier of entry than tennis, (probably) a higher skill ceiling than pickleball, more entertaining to watch and also very fun to play.

the sound of a pickle ball rally sounds like my 10 yr old playing the drums w his chopsticks at the dinner table.

I just started playing tennis. I was at Target today and saw all the pickleball paddles and balls (some kind of promotion). I’ve never seen it before. Maybe I might try it out.

Fun fact: You shouldn't be arguing about the sports you should release that this is good that people are even coming out of their homes and playing the game.

Tennis is hard, has kinda high barrier entry and requires dedication to reach the "playable" state. Though the sport is very fascinating and has almost unlimited room for improvements, it also drives "less-atheletic players" who doesn't want to spend the next 3-6 months away to coaching or intensively training.

Everyone always talks about wanting options but if an option pops up and it is accessible; suddenly options are pointless and irritating. They'll say we have enough options now.

I remember learning pickleball in high school PE back in like 2013. I literally thought it was something our school made up. Pretty cool seeing it making waves in tennis I love when Americans ruffle up old traditions lol

I love tennis and I’ve been playing my whole life. But tennis has a lot of barriers to entry. It’s hard to learn and not a lot of fun or exercise when you’re starting out. Also, without paying a lot of money for professional lessons, your ceiling is likely going to be very low. Pickleball seems to fix some of those problems and be a more accessible sport. I just hope they don’t destroy too many tennis courts. They should have their own courts.

I play both, they're great games. But I can talk anyone into trying pickle, and they usually have fun. Unless someone already plays tennis, I'd never be able to play with them.

Pickle ball is like... If ping pong and tennis had a baby. Both aforementioned racket sports having a higher skill level of entry. But like everyone else has mentioned, pickleball is a P.E. level sport where its much easier to pick up and have fun!

Pickle ball is substantially more enjoyable than tennis. This is coming from someone who played tennis 3-5x per week for 30+ years. The game is faster. There’s a ping pong element that drives adrenaline. You interact with way more people.

makes me think about the rise of slap fighting as a 'combat' or endurance sport.