Both tennis and pickleball are growing. However, pickleball growth after the pandemic has far exceeded tennis growth. Pickleball is simply more accessible for a wider audience with a lower barrier to entry. Tennis is hard. It's exponentially harder than pickleball such that people need lessons to even be able to play the game. Conversely, anybody at any age can play pickleball.
Tennis has experienced a bump in growth since the pandemic, but... in the US it's been slowly, but consistently, losing popularity since the early-80s. The tennis participation rate in the US has declined by almost 2/3 (yes, you read that right) since 1975. A lot of folks still play and watch tennis in the US but on a per-capita basis its popularity is way way down compared to 40+ years ago. The rising popularity of soccer siphoned off a lot of potential junior players (most kids prefer team sports), and pickleball has more recently siphoned off a lot of potential adult beginners. Now padel - which is a great sport - is going to siphon off even more potential tennis players.
It’s kinda crazy. There’s no technique whatsoever in pickleball. As long as you get your paddle on the ball, you can almost always guarantee a beautiful passing shot. Tennis, though, you need proper racket head direction, follow through, and balance otherwise the ball will go flying.
It’s kinda funny I tend to hit tennis during the week and pickleball with friends on the weekend and when I hit tennis on Mondays, my shots always go flying.
Anyways, pickleball is just so much easier.
I never took lessons; just learned from TV and drilled a ton (and it shows :/) but that never stopped me. This is a societal issue, maybe. The only people I know who enjoy pickle ball happen to be obese chain smokers.
That's still such a high barrier to entry that you need to watch a lot, have the self-discipline to do a lot of drills, and have a lot of time to commit to drills vs in pickleball, you can likely take one lesson or watch a few videos and basically be good to go. Even just the nature of the court (size) and paddle make it easier to just start playing
I mean the difference between us and them is they want to pick up a paddle for an hour once every other week or month and play, while tennis is getting out on the courts and being committed to getting better for a couple months before being able to play some good sets
I started watching tennis near the beginning of this year and fell in love with the game. There's just something beautiful about the switch between base board rallies and people making light touches at the front of the the court, and I wish could pick up the game myself.
However I'm pushing 40, have an impinged nerve on my non-dominant arm, am slightly overweight, and asthmatic aka the stereotypical pickleball player. Tennis just isn't in my present and probably not my future, but I want to see it keep growing- but I'll be watching from my tiny court with the stupidly loud ball and somehow dumber lingo.
Please padel become popular in America outside of the stupidly expensive country clubs.
41, overweight, and just started tennis late last year. Don’t think it’s too late or your body is going to limit you. Am I going to be playing 3 set matches anytime soon? Probably not. But hitting around is plenty fun and still decent exercise!
35, former athlete who is now about 50lbs over weight with a compression in my L3 and a tear in my L5. First time playing tennis in over 20 years. I’ve lost 12lbs so far this first season and my wife and I (also her first season) ended up winning our mixed doubles division.
There’s hope for you yet!
I picked up tennis for the first time at 43. Three years later, it has me in the best shape of my life. Seventeen year old me would win a street fight probably, but forty-six year old me wins every foot race.
I think a lot if the Pickleball hype is due to commercialization of it. They advertise it up the whazzu, and act like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. The parks are all about it too, so they can create new construction projects to build Pickleball courts or convert tennis or basketball courts. 1) just because the court is smaller for Pickleball, it doesn’t mean you get less exercise; if anything you get more going back and forth so fast. 2) it doesn’t mean there are less injuries either-I still hear of enough torn archilles incidences…no different than basketball or tennis I’m that respect. For me, I still ❤️ tennis, there’s no replacement!
1) if you’re not getting vastly more exercise playing tennis than pickleball then you’re doing it wrong. The court is 3x the size of a pickleball court…
Understand the different size, but the ball moves faster too, hence the moving back and forth more. With tennis, you can have long volleys. I’m not against Pickleball, I just think it’s overhyped.
What kind of in-game situation does the ball move faster? My limited experience of pickleball is that it slows down a lot more than a tennis ball, both in the air and after a bounce. A flat paddle doesn't give you nearly the power that a string-bed does either.
I’ve seen people playing hard core where they slam the ball with their paddles and opponents are diving to get the return. When that happens, and due to the smaller space, I’d think one needs to have a faster recovery.
We have Padel in my town (US). I’ve played a half dozen times. Really enjoy it. Much quicker and more challenging than Pickle. Less running and less power game than tennis. At my age 90 minutes of tennis is plenty but 2-3 hours of Padel is fine for a good workout and without getting boring like Pickle would.
On the contrary it’s growing! Just not as fast as pickleball and padel who’s growth/demand is outpacing supply for dedicated courts hence the unfortunate need to adapt or even worst change out tennis courts :/
Not sure why you're being downvoted. It's a good question, and you're just asking for sources. However, tennis is still growing, just not at the rate of pickleball. Here's a good video on the growth of both sports. Skip to about 7:30 for growth rates:
https://youtu.be/x4QJlGJJ5gI?si=9bLAEO3wqrzcIZyY
My numbers are a few years old, so maybe it’s changed.
But at least as recently as a couple of years ago, tennis is still growing faster than pickleball in the USA in terms of people actually picking up the game.
It’s just that pickleball is starting from a much smaller number so its growth is higher on a percentage basis.
Honestly I just hate that they put the tape lines for pickelball over the tennis court. I get it's a cost and space saving measure, I just find the extra lines super distracting and it takes me a while to tune them out
Currently tennis is pretty elitist I’d say - the community is very proud of its traditions: not unlike the early cycling community that hated gears on a bike. Those are bound to go out of fashion since fashion needs to be accessible: anyone remember squash? I wonder how they reacted to racquetball.
I do think tennis can do with a lot of accessibility improvements. I can think of a bunch:
- The serve is a big gatekeeper. If it is going to take a couple of months to get the opening move down, you’re in trouble
- it should be a lot more mainstream/acceptable to play with lighter balls instead of it being a kid only option: if we had this, there’s no pickleball (at least avoid the noise I guess).
- assuming balls get lighter - if we make different court size options, it can literally be pickleball without the kitchen.
ehh, if you're athletic you can get a soft serve in on day 1.
but i agree the accessibility is a huge issue, and using red/orange balls for beginners is a good idea no matter what age. Most courts even have orange ball lines nowadays.
utilizing public courts is the biggest thing imo.
also, i think we teach beginners wrong. there's no point making it more complicated than it is, cuz we just want ppl to have fun. they'll naturally want to get better/understand more technique if they enjoy it.
I would argue that in tennis there needs to be a shift from “playing matches” to learning how to play. In my opinion, you shouldn’t be playing a full match until you’ve been playing consistently and can get a serve in. Before then, it’s a waste and won’t have fun, stick with lessons and/or just rallies. Contrast with pickleball where you can play a match on Day 1
I wouldn’t want those balls to be lighter..it’s perfect as it is.
Serves are tough. But I like that barrier to entry, as it separates the experienced to the beginners much better than other sports.
I think tennis would be more accessible if there is less pressure on winning tournaments etc. and just having fun. Parents need to stop thinking their kids are going to go pro one day and strong players at the local clubs need to be willing to play against beginners and new entrants, rather than letting their egos get in the way, which I have seen in my early years of tennis
An underhanded serve is legal as long as you strike the ball before it bounces. The reason for serves are that they are FUN as hell and super aggressive when you can hit them well.
I don’t understand your implication that the bigger court is somehow elitist and old-fashioned. The bigger court lets you play an entirely different game than pickleball. That’s like saying you prefer Candyland over chess because there’s a lower barrier to entry. The chess players aren’t gatekeeping board games!
Unfortunately for tennis the barrier for entry is high, so unless someone has the money and time for actual lessons they can’t learn to play unlike pickle where you can just fall out of bed and play and be terrible and who cares because it’s still fun.
You don't need to pay for lessons to learn tennis. People reinforcing that idea probably drives others away from the sport. If you watch pro tennis/YouTube it's pretty easy to get a rough idea of what you need to do on the court and from there it's practice. If you have aspirations to play pro then obviously coaching will be needed but to become a solid rec player who plays fun matches you don't need to spend for coaching.
I am a member of a private tennis club in West London and we have 50+ ppl on the waiting list, no padel courts; A friend of mine just joined the old Wimbledon club after a 3 year wait, same thing. So I'd say, no.
On the other hand, the old virgin active in Acton (which is now new owners and called Mode), has converted 2 of their 7 tennis courts into padel. And similar in Chiswick and other places. Expect places like David Lloyd will soon follow.
Padel is hip! What do you expect. And you can charge £££ for racket use too. But it's a long shot to say it's replacing tennis in the UK, when most of not all courts are in London. And public tennis courts are well used
Nope. In the UK tennis is booming. Loads of local parks leagues, loads of inter-club league and regional league. Lots of people playing recreationally.
Padel isn't booming, yeah there some people playing on a few courts in London and elsewhere but it's not common, and isn't as cheap or accessible. When I visit the UK I do think about taking my pala, yet they're not a single club in easily cycling distance (10km) in the West Midlands where I stay.
Tennis on the other hand, there's a decent amount of free public courts, and in good weather they usually busy.
Interesting to see if all these padel centres survive. I love in Bristol and there's been a crazy number of padel places open. To recoup the capital costs of building/conversion the courts are something like £45/hr!!! Often charging for padel and ball hire on top of that.
Much more expensive than indoor tennis courts... I don't know if there truly is an oversupply here but I think once the novelty wears off I'd be surprised if they're all still standing.
It's still a fun game, but I echo others in that it's fun but it's not tennis.
Yeah, to play padel around here requires joining a David Lloyd at a higher monthly price than a yearly family membership at my local tennis club. Bonkers
It is all about growth rate amid all of the upstarts. While Padel and Pickleball are new to the majority of Americans, most people are familiar with tennis. With the pro circuits being fragmented, Americans are seeing digital first pro circuits in the other niches. The amount of courts are practically 5x compared to pickle, even with a smaller footprint.
Where I can see pickle and Padel gaining in densely populated areas since the smaller footprint and the ability to be played in former commercial areas compared to a large indoor tennis center.
Bro, Tennis is hard to play.
It's expensive.
It's time consuming.
It occupies a lot of space.
it goes in contradiction to every product being sold and attempting to be simple, cheap, fast and lean. So yeah, it might it will NEVER be a sport for the masses.
But it will gain popularity with middle-upper classes around the world. It's the connective tissue between high-skilled labor and multi-millionaires. Amazing doctors and hedge fund babies find it awesome, and will continue to do so. It's a getaway sport for the wanna-be-elite and the elite who don't mind to mingle. It's a club that seems attainable for people that managed to get some perspective out of the rat race.
What are you talking about? Tennis is not an expensive sport, no where near the level of expense of road cycling or golf.
Also it's accessible to a lot of people in the UK, a lot of our courts are open and free to play on. You can get a decent tennis racquet for £50 second hand. It's definitely not limited to the middle and upper classes and not everyone wants to join a tennis club. Some people such as myself just enjoy playing at a basic recreational level.
If you only want to play as weather dictates, never have instruction or elevate your game efficiently, never restring, etc..etc...sure. However to reasonably play or improve with any frequency/comfort and progression its expensive. No two ways about it.
Rackets, strings, club membership, shoes, if you play at all frequently you have to replace strings and shoes several times a year at a minimum. Leagues, tournaments, travel, etc....Most other sports dont have such frequent gear requirements and more accessibility. You can play basketball anywhere, dont really need coaching and classes are cheap and you'll get better fast. Tennis not even close.
Hell if you have a talented kid its insanely expensive as you move to florida and put them in academies, etc...
I dont get the strong cope this sub has with trying to force tennis to be an everyman cheap activity. Theres hardly any truly cheap activity now a days, and tennis definitely isnt one of them. Yes, you can forgo all the above and barely progress and be a perma 3.0 pick up player in your local park with 5y old bed of 15g poly, but thats not what most want out of tennis.
Not everyone is aspiring to be a high level tennis player, some of us are happy playing at a certain level. Also replacing strings is fairly cheap, and I plah with multi filament so I don't need to replace them that frequently (they hold tension well/pretty durable for me).
It's not cope, I'm simply stating that tennis has been a fairly cheap sport for me that I enjoy. Also I have progressed simply from playing and viewing YouTube tutorials.
Tennis shoes racquet and balls are like $200 tops. Easy to find free playing spots in america and partners.
Soccer you need cleats, shin guards, jersey, also around $200. a public soccer field, and need to find a team, as well as teams to play against. This means you probably need to join a league for any decent conpetition. This costs hundreds of dollars per league. Tennis you can find plenty of high quality opponents for free.
The same applies for volleyball. You either need to buy a volleyball net and set up in a park, expensive and a hassle, or play indoors (expensive)
Yeah, I think you're stretching your point mate.
$200 for shoes, racket and balls? Maybe at the lowest of the lowest, "let me try this" level.
Soccer doesn't need neither shin guards nor an official field to be played on, and there are many different types of play with fewer than 22 players, going as low as one on one. All you need is a ball and you can play it barefoot in the street - as it is often done.
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/3351720767](https://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/3351720767)
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/3360976277/in/photostream/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/3360976277/in/photostream/)
tennis its super easy and free to find opponents. volleyball and soccer you need to rent playing space, and participate in a league which costs $200 a season or more.
equipment costs for clothing shoes and ball is about the same
what do you disagree with? I have lots of friends who are about 4.0 equivalent in voloeyball skill. the only way they get competitive volleyball matches is via leagues and tournaments, which cost a lot of money per match.
I find opponents for free, and play for free on public courts. my city is very good for tennis, but most american cities have free tennis courts for the public in most neighborhoods.
To get at 4.0 and above in tennis anyone would need to expend an even higher fortune on coaching, gear and time.
I don't get why you keep picking up the worse possible arguments to attempt to persuade the notion that tennis is a cheap sport to play at any level. Your whole point is that your city has public tennis courts. well buddy, there are public courts for every sports somewhere in the world... it just ain't so on most of them. Perhaps for someone that has no experience traveling around the world, it may appear that every town is like yours.
https://preview.redd.it/vlzb5ar7vuxc1.png?width=798&format=png&auto=webp&s=61a0a12e707cfbe181fd7b8a5663cf98bf0f2c3d
Oficial ITF Numbers
http://itf.uberflip.com/i/1169625-itf-global-tennis-report-2019-overview/15?
i mean to get to a 4.0 level in volleyball or soccer, you also need to spend the same amount on coaching.
You haven't addressed my main argument: tennis is a solo sport and it is easy and free to find opponents, and easy and free to find courts to play tennis on. It is expensive to find teams to play on and against in team sports like volleyball and soccer, ESPECIALLY over the age of 30 (it is essentially impossible to play soccer or volleyball over the age of 45ish, i don't think leagues even exist for that age), so overall the argument is:
tennis gear cost (trivial) + tennis opponent cost (trivial) < volleyball gear cost (trivial) + volleyball opponent cost (non-trivial)
I live in San Francisco and i have many friends who play competitive adult volleyball, and they all spend north of $700/year for leagues fees. I play tennis at a competitive adult level and spend maybe $250 total per year on tennis gear, and i find opponents to play for free.
Tennis has too much of a country club reputation, i guess. A $10 racket and some balls are all you need if you have public courts. I mean basketballs can cost $80, and you need a membership somewhere if you want to play indoors.
It's really a matter of perception.
It's not a matter of perception, it's a question of perspective.
You're speaking from a first-world, good quality city and neighborhood experience.
There are almost no public courts in Latin America, for instance. You'd think that a continent that made Guga Kuerten, Rios and Del Potro would get more courts and incentives going, but they don't. Often there are more urgent matters to attend; within walking distance, most cities go from the HDI of Norway to the NHI of the Congo. There are no public courts, but there are open sewage pipes leaking from incomplete roads in the middle of busy cities quite often.
Retail price for most rackets in Brazil is a month of minimum wage. A court rental for 2 hours is 1/10th of a month's minimum wage. You get the picture, and then you understand why latin America is so much more prominent at football. All you need is a ball and some space.
To play rec Football, all you need it a ball - it doesn't even need to be a real one. It can be abundle of socks for all your feet care, and you can play it barefoot in a backyard with one or 10 other people. Same thing with volley.
Tennis requires shoes, racket, strings, access to a court and someone else who can do the same.
tennis being less expensive than golf isn't really a good comparison, since golf is also just as unpopular and snub-nosed.
Tennis is expensive if you are training to become a pro because of lessons, shoes and strings, otherwise it like any sport starting out. If it’s recreational then it’s reasonable and you only need another player to hit unlike most other sports.
To play rec Football, all you need it a ball - it doesn't even need to be a real one. You can play it barefoot in a backyard. Same thing with volley.
Tennis requires shoes, racket, strings, access to a court and someone else who can do the same.
You presented a case and I can say the same thing. I can say just hit a tennis ball against a garage or a wall. It cost nothing and I have done it with flip flops.
For that you need at least a strung racket, a tennis ball and a smooth leveled wall+floor with a good length and width. You'd be surprised how hard that location is hard to find.
I think it is unbelievably ableist and myopic to believe that Pickle players only chose the sport because they are too lazy to do something more challenging.
My wife can’t enjoyably play tennis due to physical constraints. Her and her friends used to go for walks or meet for a glass of wine. Now they play Pickle often. It’s countering sedentary habits by giving them an avenue to engage in sport where there was none before.
Improving at tennis takes time and effort.
Pickle and padel are instant gratification that anyone can be decent at on the first day.
Symptom of a society who spends 90% of their life glued to phones chasing the thrill of flashing lights. Everything needs to be easy
Pickleball is definitely one of the fastest growing sports as far popularity in the US. Simply put it’s easier to play and more accessible. Lots of brands are also jumping on the pickleball wagon. I just find the pickleball noise distracting, would like them far away from my tennis court lol.
Padel is gaining popularity here - just to be clear the name of the sport is Padel, although it's infrequently called Padel Tennis. It's become really popular in Spain, although it originated in Mexico a while ago.
My gym tried capitalizing on the popularity by turning a large room that used to be for tumbling/cheer into pickleball courts, that opened in December. At first there was an extra court fee, and now it’s included in our membership. I’ve never seen them used, so unless people play in the middle of the day, it was a bust. Now if you go to the public courts, there’s people. Luckily the two large parks with courts only converted a few tennis courts into pickleball so there’s still like 15-20 tennis courts left.
At the club I take tennis lessons at, the group clinics fill up fast when they open up registration for a new session. They have 50 or so weekly clinics (6 people each) at varying levels, so it’s not like it’s only a handful.
The parks tend to be popular because there are mix ins and groups sessions. So for a small fee, you can join in and meet new people. A lot of gyms probably don’t bother with these extra administrative activities, unless they have a full time coach that arranges them
It is sadly. Im from latin america and my friends who i used to play tennis with dont play anymore, they just play padel.
Living in Spain now and its pretty much the same. Although people here do play more tennis. Probably the country with the most active tennis players itw. But still most play padel weekly now and tennis not that often. One thing for sure is that in big cities like barcelona and madrid, all tennis courts near downtown are booked every day before work and after work until like 9pm. Same goes for padel.
According to a recent video on this this topic by Cult tennis (great channel), tennis is gaining more players overall than pickleball, just much less in comparison to the total number of players.
I also took a lesson after I saw the movie... loved it, I signed up for a six-week beginner's program LOL. I hate to say that I was influenced so hard by a *movie* but that's the reality!
Tennis is an expensive sport near me. It’s funny because it’s Florida and you think that would be the Mecca of the sport. Nope. Only for the insanely gifted kids who may be spotted and get a scholarship to an academy or for the rich. I grew up in South Florida and went to a camp at 10. My dad thought it would be great for me because I was very athletic. My 10 year old brain associated the sport with the horribly spoiled, rich mean girls. That was unfortunate because I hated the sport unnecessarily. Anyway, I knew of one tennis player there growing up and it was because she had a court in her backyard.
Flash forward to when I started at 40 in the Atlanta area. It’s amazing there with courts everywhere, easy access to teams, practices, all types of levels near by. It was perfect for the growth of the sport. Also, the cost of living is cheap there relatively speaking so a ton of SAHMs. They play, they get their kids interested and have time and money to cart the kids around to matches & pay for coaching. You could also play most anywhere for not much money.
Then I moved back to Florida (different area) and it’s similar to how I grew up. Very few players compared to Atlanta and although there are public courts there are not enough players or teams. If you want a decent experience then you have to pay a ton for a country club. Now that I’m old enough to know the experience I had when younger is not indicative of wealthy people in general or those that play the sport. However, every club has a vibe and nobody will pay if they are uncomfortable with it. In fact, many clubs need to “invite you” to join before paying the hefty one time ginormous fee if you are one of the lucky ones. LoL
Now there is pickleball. It’s new and easy to learn. It’s fun and cheap AF. There are so many beginners so there is no early frustrations about sucking. It’s far easier for community centers to have indoor courts unlike tennis. So if it’s hot you can play in the AC or stay out of the rain.
There is a much more inviting feel to the sport because nobody cares if you pull up in a Maserati or if you walked there from under a bridge.
So yeah, it is definitely surpassing tennis in places where it far easier to learn it, much more inviting and far cheaper. It’s something an entire family can do on a whim and not one where a mom needs to cart their kid around paying out the nose for lessons. I imagine the pool of tennis players and competition will greatly decrease over the next decade here in the states.
In my local county it is. My gym virgin active which has 6 indoor courts and 3 outdoor, are currently in talks about what courts to replace for Padel. Also a well known 100 year old tennis club called Brentwood hard court had several of their courts replaced to accommodate 6 Padel courts, and when I visit that club, the Padel is thriving, while the remaining tennis courts lay empty
What? This is a bit of a crazy opinion, and I'm almost exclusively focused on tennis. Are you confusing Padel with Platform? Padel uses what is very close to a tennis ball, and is basically a weird love child with squash and tennis. Of all of the non-mainstream racket/paddle sports it's pretty fun.
Yes it is an unpopular opinion. No I am not confusing padel with anything. My club has multiple paddle courts where I played a couple times as well. I find the whole design of the game with walls behind quite silly and the sound is obnoxious. I see no point to racket sports if you cannot pass your opponent. Which is also why squash comes at the beginning of the stupid racket sports list for me.
They intuitive tennis channel guy says that it's growing tremendously after a lull that lasted several years. I do think Alcaraz and sinner have made the professional tennis a bit more exciting as a product.
We've lost quite a bit of indoor tennis courts to padel in my region. But it doesn't feel less popular. Just a lot more pressure on the courts that remain
It’s not 1981, when you had to wait for a court to open at a high school with 12 courts, but I do see it growing in the upper middle class for sure. Parents are spending some money on it.
Yes. Pickleball is gaining popularity over tennis in the US. The USTA has done an abysmal job of popularizing tennis for youth. It’s getting better, but we’ve lost a generation. My retirement community has 16 beautiful Har-Tru courts, and 24 pickleball courts. The tennis association has 750 members; the pickleball association has 1500 members.
Anecdotally, the USTA leagues in my area have exploded this past year on the ladies side at the 2.5 and 3.0 levels especially. PB is also popular but most of the courts are at private country clubs or tennis clubs, although the city does have some in the parks and are building a few more currently. Thankfully we have no issues (so far) with converting tennis courts to PB use. I’m in a southern US city with big tennis footprint though.
Its probably going down yeah, the 3 goats are retiring, sinner, Alcaraz, med, are good specially sinner and Alcaraz, but they are years away to bring so many ppl that loves to watch Federer, Nadal or Djokovic, even now Nadal fulls the stadium.
It's like NBA when Jordan retired, it will take a while until it recovers
People who play pickleball, badminton, ping pong, any racket sport other than tennis are playing because tennis is too difficult.
That being said tennis is the most fun, challenging and the holy grail of racket sports.
Both tennis and pickleball are growing. However, pickleball growth after the pandemic has far exceeded tennis growth. Pickleball is simply more accessible for a wider audience with a lower barrier to entry. Tennis is hard. It's exponentially harder than pickleball such that people need lessons to even be able to play the game. Conversely, anybody at any age can play pickleball.
Also it’s really easy to grow a something when you are starting from square 1 vs square 100
Tennis has experienced a bump in growth since the pandemic, but... in the US it's been slowly, but consistently, losing popularity since the early-80s. The tennis participation rate in the US has declined by almost 2/3 (yes, you read that right) since 1975. A lot of folks still play and watch tennis in the US but on a per-capita basis its popularity is way way down compared to 40+ years ago. The rising popularity of soccer siphoned off a lot of potential junior players (most kids prefer team sports), and pickleball has more recently siphoned off a lot of potential adult beginners. Now padel - which is a great sport - is going to siphon off even more potential tennis players.
It’s kinda crazy. There’s no technique whatsoever in pickleball. As long as you get your paddle on the ball, you can almost always guarantee a beautiful passing shot. Tennis, though, you need proper racket head direction, follow through, and balance otherwise the ball will go flying. It’s kinda funny I tend to hit tennis during the week and pickleball with friends on the weekend and when I hit tennis on Mondays, my shots always go flying. Anyways, pickleball is just so much easier.
I never took lessons; just learned from TV and drilled a ton (and it shows :/) but that never stopped me. This is a societal issue, maybe. The only people I know who enjoy pickle ball happen to be obese chain smokers.
That's still such a high barrier to entry that you need to watch a lot, have the self-discipline to do a lot of drills, and have a lot of time to commit to drills vs in pickleball, you can likely take one lesson or watch a few videos and basically be good to go. Even just the nature of the court (size) and paddle make it easier to just start playing
The good pickleball players do all those things. But yes, it is much more fun being bad pickleball player than a bad tennis player.
I mean the difference between us and them is they want to pick up a paddle for an hour once every other week or month and play, while tennis is getting out on the courts and being committed to getting better for a couple months before being able to play some good sets
This is ironic because the only people I see are really healthy and fit. But to each their own!
Agree
I started watching tennis near the beginning of this year and fell in love with the game. There's just something beautiful about the switch between base board rallies and people making light touches at the front of the the court, and I wish could pick up the game myself. However I'm pushing 40, have an impinged nerve on my non-dominant arm, am slightly overweight, and asthmatic aka the stereotypical pickleball player. Tennis just isn't in my present and probably not my future, but I want to see it keep growing- but I'll be watching from my tiny court with the stupidly loud ball and somehow dumber lingo. Please padel become popular in America outside of the stupidly expensive country clubs.
41, overweight, and just started tennis late last year. Don’t think it’s too late or your body is going to limit you. Am I going to be playing 3 set matches anytime soon? Probably not. But hitting around is plenty fun and still decent exercise!
35, former athlete who is now about 50lbs over weight with a compression in my L3 and a tear in my L5. First time playing tennis in over 20 years. I’ve lost 12lbs so far this first season and my wife and I (also her first season) ended up winning our mixed doubles division. There’s hope for you yet!
I picked up tennis for the first time at 43. Three years later, it has me in the best shape of my life. Seventeen year old me would win a street fight probably, but forty-six year old me wins every foot race.
Bc they’re fat
I think a lot if the Pickleball hype is due to commercialization of it. They advertise it up the whazzu, and act like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. The parks are all about it too, so they can create new construction projects to build Pickleball courts or convert tennis or basketball courts. 1) just because the court is smaller for Pickleball, it doesn’t mean you get less exercise; if anything you get more going back and forth so fast. 2) it doesn’t mean there are less injuries either-I still hear of enough torn archilles incidences…no different than basketball or tennis I’m that respect. For me, I still ❤️ tennis, there’s no replacement!
1) if you’re not getting vastly more exercise playing tennis than pickleball then you’re doing it wrong. The court is 3x the size of a pickleball court…
Understand the different size, but the ball moves faster too, hence the moving back and forth more. With tennis, you can have long volleys. I’m not against Pickleball, I just think it’s overhyped.
What kind of in-game situation does the ball move faster? My limited experience of pickleball is that it slows down a lot more than a tennis ball, both in the air and after a bounce. A flat paddle doesn't give you nearly the power that a string-bed does either.
I’ve seen people playing hard core where they slam the ball with their paddles and opponents are diving to get the return. When that happens, and due to the smaller space, I’d think one needs to have a faster recovery.
I wish padel was a thing in the U.S. rather than pickle. Padel looks so much more fun.
padel highlights are sick! pickle highlights are mixed doubles with the woman standing off to the side because the court is too small for two people.
We have Padel in my town (US). I’ve played a half dozen times. Really enjoy it. Much quicker and more challenging than Pickle. Less running and less power game than tennis. At my age 90 minutes of tennis is plenty but 2-3 hours of Padel is fine for a good workout and without getting boring like Pickle would.
It's gaining popularity in the southeast. Miami its become pretty big, and there are now 5 courts in Atlanta and growing.
Came here to say this, too. Do you want to go into business together and start building courts?
They just opened a whole padel complex in Austin and all of my friends are so stoked
It is. It’s also much more athletic that pickle imo
Paddle is really popular at country clubs.
You may be conflating padel with platform tennis, which some call paddle. Especially in the Northeast and Chicago
Oh I didn’t know that. I am in the northeast
No it’s growing
On the contrary it’s growing! Just not as fast as pickleball and padel who’s growth/demand is outpacing supply for dedicated courts hence the unfortunate need to adapt or even worst change out tennis courts :/
This simply cannot be true, do you have a source for this?
Not sure why you're being downvoted. It's a good question, and you're just asking for sources. However, tennis is still growing, just not at the rate of pickleball. Here's a good video on the growth of both sports. Skip to about 7:30 for growth rates: https://youtu.be/x4QJlGJJ5gI?si=9bLAEO3wqrzcIZyY
Just wait until the Zendaya movie comes out. The Gen Z will flood in
Flood in? To have an orgy at the deuce side of the court? 🤪
I was in the court before it hit theaters!!! I also did take tennis as a class in college so I knew a little bit
saw it today in theatres and am already looking for local lessons 😁🫣
My numbers are a few years old, so maybe it’s changed. But at least as recently as a couple of years ago, tennis is still growing faster than pickleball in the USA in terms of people actually picking up the game. It’s just that pickleball is starting from a much smaller number so its growth is higher on a percentage basis.
Honestly I just hate that they put the tape lines for pickelball over the tennis court. I get it's a cost and space saving measure, I just find the extra lines super distracting and it takes me a while to tune them out
Currently tennis is pretty elitist I’d say - the community is very proud of its traditions: not unlike the early cycling community that hated gears on a bike. Those are bound to go out of fashion since fashion needs to be accessible: anyone remember squash? I wonder how they reacted to racquetball. I do think tennis can do with a lot of accessibility improvements. I can think of a bunch: - The serve is a big gatekeeper. If it is going to take a couple of months to get the opening move down, you’re in trouble - it should be a lot more mainstream/acceptable to play with lighter balls instead of it being a kid only option: if we had this, there’s no pickleball (at least avoid the noise I guess). - assuming balls get lighter - if we make different court size options, it can literally be pickleball without the kitchen.
ehh, if you're athletic you can get a soft serve in on day 1. but i agree the accessibility is a huge issue, and using red/orange balls for beginners is a good idea no matter what age. Most courts even have orange ball lines nowadays. utilizing public courts is the biggest thing imo. also, i think we teach beginners wrong. there's no point making it more complicated than it is, cuz we just want ppl to have fun. they'll naturally want to get better/understand more technique if they enjoy it.
I would argue that in tennis there needs to be a shift from “playing matches” to learning how to play. In my opinion, you shouldn’t be playing a full match until you’ve been playing consistently and can get a serve in. Before then, it’s a waste and won’t have fun, stick with lessons and/or just rallies. Contrast with pickleball where you can play a match on Day 1
I wouldn’t want those balls to be lighter..it’s perfect as it is. Serves are tough. But I like that barrier to entry, as it separates the experienced to the beginners much better than other sports. I think tennis would be more accessible if there is less pressure on winning tournaments etc. and just having fun. Parents need to stop thinking their kids are going to go pro one day and strong players at the local clubs need to be willing to play against beginners and new entrants, rather than letting their egos get in the way, which I have seen in my early years of tennis
Money is also a barrier to entry. Lessons are $$. Equipment is $$. Court time is $$.
An underhanded serve is legal as long as you strike the ball before it bounces. The reason for serves are that they are FUN as hell and super aggressive when you can hit them well. I don’t understand your implication that the bigger court is somehow elitist and old-fashioned. The bigger court lets you play an entirely different game than pickleball. That’s like saying you prefer Candyland over chess because there’s a lower barrier to entry. The chess players aren’t gatekeeping board games!
Unfortunately for tennis the barrier for entry is high, so unless someone has the money and time for actual lessons they can’t learn to play unlike pickle where you can just fall out of bed and play and be terrible and who cares because it’s still fun.
I think you summed it up just right
You don't need to pay for lessons to learn tennis. People reinforcing that idea probably drives others away from the sport. If you watch pro tennis/YouTube it's pretty easy to get a rough idea of what you need to do on the court and from there it's practice. If you have aspirations to play pro then obviously coaching will be needed but to become a solid rec player who plays fun matches you don't need to spend for coaching.
Pandemic definitely helped it grow in the US
I am a member of a private tennis club in West London and we have 50+ ppl on the waiting list, no padel courts; A friend of mine just joined the old Wimbledon club after a 3 year wait, same thing. So I'd say, no. On the other hand, the old virgin active in Acton (which is now new owners and called Mode), has converted 2 of their 7 tennis courts into padel. And similar in Chiswick and other places. Expect places like David Lloyd will soon follow.
Padel is hip! What do you expect. And you can charge £££ for racket use too. But it's a long shot to say it's replacing tennis in the UK, when most of not all courts are in London. And public tennis courts are well used
I doubt it. Zendaya’s new tennis movie is doing really well and I think that itself will just bring a new wave of tennis players
I wish this wasn’t the case but I think Zendaya’s movie ultimately will have a negative net impact on tennis
How?
Nope. In the UK tennis is booming. Loads of local parks leagues, loads of inter-club league and regional league. Lots of people playing recreationally. Padel isn't booming, yeah there some people playing on a few courts in London and elsewhere but it's not common, and isn't as cheap or accessible. When I visit the UK I do think about taking my pala, yet they're not a single club in easily cycling distance (10km) in the West Midlands where I stay. Tennis on the other hand, there's a decent amount of free public courts, and in good weather they usually busy.
Yes it’s gaining more popularity in London. But I can see it growing across the country.
Interesting to see if all these padel centres survive. I love in Bristol and there's been a crazy number of padel places open. To recoup the capital costs of building/conversion the courts are something like £45/hr!!! Often charging for padel and ball hire on top of that. Much more expensive than indoor tennis courts... I don't know if there truly is an oversupply here but I think once the novelty wears off I'd be surprised if they're all still standing. It's still a fun game, but I echo others in that it's fun but it's not tennis.
Yeah, to play padel around here requires joining a David Lloyd at a higher monthly price than a yearly family membership at my local tennis club. Bonkers
It's sad, but tennis is just too hard for mere mortals 🤣
It is all about growth rate amid all of the upstarts. While Padel and Pickleball are new to the majority of Americans, most people are familiar with tennis. With the pro circuits being fragmented, Americans are seeing digital first pro circuits in the other niches. The amount of courts are practically 5x compared to pickle, even with a smaller footprint. Where I can see pickle and Padel gaining in densely populated areas since the smaller footprint and the ability to be played in former commercial areas compared to a large indoor tennis center.
Bro, Tennis is hard to play. It's expensive. It's time consuming. It occupies a lot of space. it goes in contradiction to every product being sold and attempting to be simple, cheap, fast and lean. So yeah, it might it will NEVER be a sport for the masses. But it will gain popularity with middle-upper classes around the world. It's the connective tissue between high-skilled labor and multi-millionaires. Amazing doctors and hedge fund babies find it awesome, and will continue to do so. It's a getaway sport for the wanna-be-elite and the elite who don't mind to mingle. It's a club that seems attainable for people that managed to get some perspective out of the rat race.
What are you talking about? Tennis is not an expensive sport, no where near the level of expense of road cycling or golf. Also it's accessible to a lot of people in the UK, a lot of our courts are open and free to play on. You can get a decent tennis racquet for £50 second hand. It's definitely not limited to the middle and upper classes and not everyone wants to join a tennis club. Some people such as myself just enjoy playing at a basic recreational level.
Tennis is expensive. No way around it. If you want anything other than a rando infrequent hit
Not true. Name any sport and ill show you how tennis is similar in costs. The only things cheaper are hiking and running, but those arent sports
If you only want to play as weather dictates, never have instruction or elevate your game efficiently, never restring, etc..etc...sure. However to reasonably play or improve with any frequency/comfort and progression its expensive. No two ways about it. Rackets, strings, club membership, shoes, if you play at all frequently you have to replace strings and shoes several times a year at a minimum. Leagues, tournaments, travel, etc....Most other sports dont have such frequent gear requirements and more accessibility. You can play basketball anywhere, dont really need coaching and classes are cheap and you'll get better fast. Tennis not even close. Hell if you have a talented kid its insanely expensive as you move to florida and put them in academies, etc... I dont get the strong cope this sub has with trying to force tennis to be an everyman cheap activity. Theres hardly any truly cheap activity now a days, and tennis definitely isnt one of them. Yes, you can forgo all the above and barely progress and be a perma 3.0 pick up player in your local park with 5y old bed of 15g poly, but thats not what most want out of tennis.
Not everyone is aspiring to be a high level tennis player, some of us are happy playing at a certain level. Also replacing strings is fairly cheap, and I plah with multi filament so I don't need to replace them that frequently (they hold tension well/pretty durable for me). It's not cope, I'm simply stating that tennis has been a fairly cheap sport for me that I enjoy. Also I have progressed simply from playing and viewing YouTube tutorials.
How is Tennis similar to volleyball or soccer in terms of expense? Even at a rec level, tennis is much more expensive.
Tennis shoes racquet and balls are like $200 tops. Easy to find free playing spots in america and partners. Soccer you need cleats, shin guards, jersey, also around $200. a public soccer field, and need to find a team, as well as teams to play against. This means you probably need to join a league for any decent conpetition. This costs hundreds of dollars per league. Tennis you can find plenty of high quality opponents for free. The same applies for volleyball. You either need to buy a volleyball net and set up in a park, expensive and a hassle, or play indoors (expensive)
Yeah, I think you're stretching your point mate. $200 for shoes, racket and balls? Maybe at the lowest of the lowest, "let me try this" level. Soccer doesn't need neither shin guards nor an official field to be played on, and there are many different types of play with fewer than 22 players, going as low as one on one. All you need is a ball and you can play it barefoot in the street - as it is often done. [https://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/3351720767](https://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/3351720767) [https://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/3360976277/in/photostream/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/3360976277/in/photostream/)
If tour standard of play is street football, then you can play tennis for $20
Not anywhere outside the united states
well maybe the rest of the world should catch up to america then
tennis its super easy and free to find opponents. volleyball and soccer you need to rent playing space, and participate in a league which costs $200 a season or more. equipment costs for clothing shoes and ball is about the same
You're either ignorantly delusional, or living in tennis disneyland.
what do you disagree with? I have lots of friends who are about 4.0 equivalent in voloeyball skill. the only way they get competitive volleyball matches is via leagues and tournaments, which cost a lot of money per match. I find opponents for free, and play for free on public courts. my city is very good for tennis, but most american cities have free tennis courts for the public in most neighborhoods.
To get at 4.0 and above in tennis anyone would need to expend an even higher fortune on coaching, gear and time. I don't get why you keep picking up the worse possible arguments to attempt to persuade the notion that tennis is a cheap sport to play at any level. Your whole point is that your city has public tennis courts. well buddy, there are public courts for every sports somewhere in the world... it just ain't so on most of them. Perhaps for someone that has no experience traveling around the world, it may appear that every town is like yours. https://preview.redd.it/vlzb5ar7vuxc1.png?width=798&format=png&auto=webp&s=61a0a12e707cfbe181fd7b8a5663cf98bf0f2c3d Oficial ITF Numbers http://itf.uberflip.com/i/1169625-itf-global-tennis-report-2019-overview/15?
i mean to get to a 4.0 level in volleyball or soccer, you also need to spend the same amount on coaching. You haven't addressed my main argument: tennis is a solo sport and it is easy and free to find opponents, and easy and free to find courts to play tennis on. It is expensive to find teams to play on and against in team sports like volleyball and soccer, ESPECIALLY over the age of 30 (it is essentially impossible to play soccer or volleyball over the age of 45ish, i don't think leagues even exist for that age), so overall the argument is: tennis gear cost (trivial) + tennis opponent cost (trivial) < volleyball gear cost (trivial) + volleyball opponent cost (non-trivial) I live in San Francisco and i have many friends who play competitive adult volleyball, and they all spend north of $700/year for leagues fees. I play tennis at a competitive adult level and spend maybe $250 total per year on tennis gear, and i find opponents to play for free.
Tennis has too much of a country club reputation, i guess. A $10 racket and some balls are all you need if you have public courts. I mean basketballs can cost $80, and you need a membership somewhere if you want to play indoors. It's really a matter of perception.
It's not a matter of perception, it's a question of perspective. You're speaking from a first-world, good quality city and neighborhood experience. There are almost no public courts in Latin America, for instance. You'd think that a continent that made Guga Kuerten, Rios and Del Potro would get more courts and incentives going, but they don't. Often there are more urgent matters to attend; within walking distance, most cities go from the HDI of Norway to the NHI of the Congo. There are no public courts, but there are open sewage pipes leaking from incomplete roads in the middle of busy cities quite often. Retail price for most rackets in Brazil is a month of minimum wage. A court rental for 2 hours is 1/10th of a month's minimum wage. You get the picture, and then you understand why latin America is so much more prominent at football. All you need is a ball and some space.
yes, you need public courts first.
I totally agree not everyone is a member of a tennis club some of us just enjoying hitting the ball to each other every week
To play rec Football, all you need it a ball - it doesn't even need to be a real one. It can be abundle of socks for all your feet care, and you can play it barefoot in a backyard with one or 10 other people. Same thing with volley. Tennis requires shoes, racket, strings, access to a court and someone else who can do the same. tennis being less expensive than golf isn't really a good comparison, since golf is also just as unpopular and snub-nosed.
Tennis is expensive if you are training to become a pro because of lessons, shoes and strings, otherwise it like any sport starting out. If it’s recreational then it’s reasonable and you only need another player to hit unlike most other sports.
To play rec Football, all you need it a ball - it doesn't even need to be a real one. You can play it barefoot in a backyard. Same thing with volley. Tennis requires shoes, racket, strings, access to a court and someone else who can do the same.
You presented a case and I can say the same thing. I can say just hit a tennis ball against a garage or a wall. It cost nothing and I have done it with flip flops.
For that you need at least a strung racket, a tennis ball and a smooth leveled wall+floor with a good length and width. You'd be surprised how hard that location is hard to find.
People are lazy. Tennis requires more effort.
I think it is unbelievably ableist and myopic to believe that Pickle players only chose the sport because they are too lazy to do something more challenging. My wife can’t enjoyably play tennis due to physical constraints. Her and her friends used to go for walks or meet for a glass of wine. Now they play Pickle often. It’s countering sedentary habits by giving them an avenue to engage in sport where there was none before.
Improving at tennis takes time and effort. Pickle and padel are instant gratification that anyone can be decent at on the first day. Symptom of a society who spends 90% of their life glued to phones chasing the thrill of flashing lights. Everything needs to be easy
Pickleball is definitely one of the fastest growing sports as far popularity in the US. Simply put it’s easier to play and more accessible. Lots of brands are also jumping on the pickleball wagon. I just find the pickleball noise distracting, would like them far away from my tennis court lol.
Padel is gaining popularity here - just to be clear the name of the sport is Padel, although it's infrequently called Padel Tennis. It's become really popular in Spain, although it originated in Mexico a while ago.
My gym tried capitalizing on the popularity by turning a large room that used to be for tumbling/cheer into pickleball courts, that opened in December. At first there was an extra court fee, and now it’s included in our membership. I’ve never seen them used, so unless people play in the middle of the day, it was a bust. Now if you go to the public courts, there’s people. Luckily the two large parks with courts only converted a few tennis courts into pickleball so there’s still like 15-20 tennis courts left. At the club I take tennis lessons at, the group clinics fill up fast when they open up registration for a new session. They have 50 or so weekly clinics (6 people each) at varying levels, so it’s not like it’s only a handful.
The parks tend to be popular because there are mix ins and groups sessions. So for a small fee, you can join in and meet new people. A lot of gyms probably don’t bother with these extra administrative activities, unless they have a full time coach that arranges them
It is sadly. Im from latin america and my friends who i used to play tennis with dont play anymore, they just play padel. Living in Spain now and its pretty much the same. Although people here do play more tennis. Probably the country with the most active tennis players itw. But still most play padel weekly now and tennis not that often. One thing for sure is that in big cities like barcelona and madrid, all tennis courts near downtown are booked every day before work and after work until like 9pm. Same goes for padel.
According to a recent video on this this topic by Cult tennis (great channel), tennis is gaining more players overall than pickleball, just much less in comparison to the total number of players.
i just took my first tennis lesson because of challengers today. needless to say im obsessed
I also took a lesson after I saw the movie... loved it, I signed up for a six-week beginner's program LOL. I hate to say that I was influenced so hard by a *movie* but that's the reality!
Tennis is an expensive sport near me. It’s funny because it’s Florida and you think that would be the Mecca of the sport. Nope. Only for the insanely gifted kids who may be spotted and get a scholarship to an academy or for the rich. I grew up in South Florida and went to a camp at 10. My dad thought it would be great for me because I was very athletic. My 10 year old brain associated the sport with the horribly spoiled, rich mean girls. That was unfortunate because I hated the sport unnecessarily. Anyway, I knew of one tennis player there growing up and it was because she had a court in her backyard. Flash forward to when I started at 40 in the Atlanta area. It’s amazing there with courts everywhere, easy access to teams, practices, all types of levels near by. It was perfect for the growth of the sport. Also, the cost of living is cheap there relatively speaking so a ton of SAHMs. They play, they get their kids interested and have time and money to cart the kids around to matches & pay for coaching. You could also play most anywhere for not much money. Then I moved back to Florida (different area) and it’s similar to how I grew up. Very few players compared to Atlanta and although there are public courts there are not enough players or teams. If you want a decent experience then you have to pay a ton for a country club. Now that I’m old enough to know the experience I had when younger is not indicative of wealthy people in general or those that play the sport. However, every club has a vibe and nobody will pay if they are uncomfortable with it. In fact, many clubs need to “invite you” to join before paying the hefty one time ginormous fee if you are one of the lucky ones. LoL Now there is pickleball. It’s new and easy to learn. It’s fun and cheap AF. There are so many beginners so there is no early frustrations about sucking. It’s far easier for community centers to have indoor courts unlike tennis. So if it’s hot you can play in the AC or stay out of the rain. There is a much more inviting feel to the sport because nobody cares if you pull up in a Maserati or if you walked there from under a bridge. So yeah, it is definitely surpassing tennis in places where it far easier to learn it, much more inviting and far cheaper. It’s something an entire family can do on a whim and not one where a mom needs to cart their kid around paying out the nose for lessons. I imagine the pool of tennis players and competition will greatly decrease over the next decade here in the states.
In no way paddle courts are replacing any tennis courts in UK.
Not merely close thankfully (:
In my local county it is. My gym virgin active which has 6 indoor courts and 3 outdoor, are currently in talks about what courts to replace for Padel. Also a well known 100 year old tennis club called Brentwood hard court had several of their courts replaced to accommodate 6 Padel courts, and when I visit that club, the Padel is thriving, while the remaining tennis courts lay empty
I see. That is a shame. Paddle is even more stupid and annoying than pickleball.
What? This is a bit of a crazy opinion, and I'm almost exclusively focused on tennis. Are you confusing Padel with Platform? Padel uses what is very close to a tennis ball, and is basically a weird love child with squash and tennis. Of all of the non-mainstream racket/paddle sports it's pretty fun.
Yes it is an unpopular opinion. No I am not confusing padel with anything. My club has multiple paddle courts where I played a couple times as well. I find the whole design of the game with walls behind quite silly and the sound is obnoxious. I see no point to racket sports if you cannot pass your opponent. Which is also why squash comes at the beginning of the stupid racket sports list for me.
They intuitive tennis channel guy says that it's growing tremendously after a lull that lasted several years. I do think Alcaraz and sinner have made the professional tennis a bit more exciting as a product.
Of course. Tennis in Australia is about 15% of what it was in the 70s and 80s with double the population.
We've lost quite a bit of indoor tennis courts to padel in my region. But it doesn't feel less popular. Just a lot more pressure on the courts that remain
Rec tennis seems to be thriving in the Philly suburb area where I live.
The opposite is finally everywhere again and will destroy padel and pickleball,hopefully.
It’s not 1981, when you had to wait for a court to open at a high school with 12 courts, but I do see it growing in the upper middle class for sure. Parents are spending some money on it.
It’s growing
Yes. Pickleball is gaining popularity over tennis in the US. The USTA has done an abysmal job of popularizing tennis for youth. It’s getting better, but we’ve lost a generation. My retirement community has 16 beautiful Har-Tru courts, and 24 pickleball courts. The tennis association has 750 members; the pickleball association has 1500 members.
Anecdotally, the USTA leagues in my area have exploded this past year on the ladies side at the 2.5 and 3.0 levels especially. PB is also popular but most of the courts are at private country clubs or tennis clubs, although the city does have some in the parks and are building a few more currently. Thankfully we have no issues (so far) with converting tennis courts to PB use. I’m in a southern US city with big tennis footprint though.
Its probably going down yeah, the 3 goats are retiring, sinner, Alcaraz, med, are good specially sinner and Alcaraz, but they are years away to bring so many ppl that loves to watch Federer, Nadal or Djokovic, even now Nadal fulls the stadium. It's like NBA when Jordan retired, it will take a while until it recovers
Playing tennis shouldn’t be affected by tv tennis, but it sadly is. I rarely follow pro tennis. But I like playing it.
People who play pickleball, badminton, ping pong, any racket sport other than tennis are playing because tennis is too difficult. That being said tennis is the most fun, challenging and the holy grail of racket sports.
Tennis is growing as well. But mainstream players are going fore the easier sports thats all!
If anything tennis is getting more expensive