In recent years, a friend may have asked you to try out a new and mysterious game involving pickleheads, kitchens and dinks. If you gave in, you likely found yourself on a miniature court with three overly talkative peers, bending your back and straining your ears for two hours. The game I’m talking about is pickleball, the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. over the last four years. As appealing as it seems to drop your tennis racket and jump on the picklewagon, I am here to convince you not to do so. If you have never played tennis, then please do that and return to this article.
As a lifelong tennis player, nothing haunts me more than the thought of my hometown tennis courts being converted into pickleball courts — the fate of 8,000 tennis courts countrywide in recent years. This does not arise purely from my selfish interest in having easy access to tennis courts, but from my desire to see family and friends alike return to the sport that has kept me active and socially connected for most of my life. While pickleball has its benefits, whatever pickleball does, tennis does better. In fact, pickleball’s weaknesses are precisely tennis’ strengths.
Before I put pickleball in its rightful place, it would be remiss of me not to address the arguments in favor of the rapidly growing sport. By every measure, pickleball is much more affordable than tennis. Tennis requires the purchase of one or two rackets, strings and stringing services on a regular basis, court shoes, tennis balls and ideally private lessons. Oh, and don’t forget entry fees into tennis leagues and tournaments. All of these fees together can make the sport cost-prohibitive. Pickleball, on the other hand, usually only requires the purchase of a paddle and balls, rendering it much lighter on the wallet.
Additionally, tennis demands intense technical precision. As someone who has played many sports, the tennis serve is by far the most difficult sports maneuver I have ever learned. Overall, the sport’s technical complexity makes it relatively inaccessible, particularly for weekend warriors and beginners. That being said, I believe this makes it all the more satisfying once you achieve basic proficiency.
While pickleball may be cheaper and more technically intuitive, it is not nearly as physically intense as tennis. One study found that the average peak heart rate for participants in a tennis workout was 152 beats per minute, as opposed to 143 beats per minute in a pickleball workout. This makes sense, not only because tennis involves more complex and taxing movements, but because of the sheer difference in court size; a standard tennis court is 78 feet long and 36 feet wide, with a standard pickleball court being about half the size. Perhaps, as one gets older, it seems more feasible to move around a pickleball court. But is it not possible to adapt the game within the dimensions of a tennis court? Have you not seen Leonid Stanislavskyi, the Ukrainian stalwart who played tennis into his late 90s?
Pickleball also sounds like an annoying construction site. The sound of a paddle whacking a pickleball is so loud and disturbing that it has led to lawsuits against neighbors for the disruptive noise of the game.
Furthermore, pickleball is simply not as interesting or fun as tennis. Pickleball paddles are not as versatile as a tennis racket, whose strings allow players to customize their spin, power and feel to varying degrees. Sure, one can employ a variety of different shots in pickleball, but the options with a flat surfaced paddle are significantly less so than the dynamic string pattern of a tennis racket. Also, the sheer velocity of ball-striking in tennis makes it much more thrilling. Robin Williams characterized it well when he described tennis as “chess at 90 miles per hour.”
Finally, many argue that it is easier to socialize with others in pickleball given the players’ close proximity. This one point frustrates me more than almost any other. I know the struggle of yelling a conversation across a tennis court and losing my already raspy voice. However, the opportune time to socialize is never during play, but before and after matches or during breaks. I have developed some of my closest relationships through tennis and the size of the court was never an obstacle.
To be clear, I am not hopping from pickleball court to pickleball court to evangelize people into tennisdom. However, tennis has improved my life in a myriad of ways, from my mental health to my physical fitness and social well-being. If you are a dedicated pickleball player, or have never even stepped foot onto a court of any kind, I implore you to give tennis a try — it’s truly a lifetime and life-giving sport.
Contact Nick Dobbs at ndobbs@oxy.edu
