Tennis Vs. Pickleball

Rebekah Dunlap

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Tennis has been a very competitive sport since it was introduced in 1873 by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield. Yet, recently, another sport has risen in popularity and is competing with tennis. This sport is Pickleball. Pickleball is similar to tennis, in the tools to play. You need paddles, a court, a pickleball, a net, and people. Some of the reasons pickleball has taken a spike in popularity could be that it’s more fun to play for some people, and still provides a workout. It is a pretty laid-back sport with few rules. Tennis players, however, have a rivalry with pickleball players and it has gotten so bad that tennis fans are handing out anti-pickleball papers, demanding that local towns and their mayors take action against pickleball, and in rare cases, damaging the pickleball courts. Pickleball’s popularity has risen so fast that there aren’t enough tools and courts, and the owners of courts are remodeling tennis courts for pickleball courts, enraging tennis lovers even more. Big celebrities like Tom Brady are even endorsing pickleball and becoming owners of major league pickleball teams. Pickleball isn’t going away anytime soon, but maybe the longer it stays, the more chance the rivalry might turn into a friendship.