The US Open began this week and should end up drawing over a million fans. But the sport's leaders are facing a challenging reality: pickleball, not tennis, is America's fastest-growing racket sport. According to the US Tennis Association (USTA), pickleball has surged 223% over three years, reaching 13.6 million players compared to tennis' 23.8 million players. USTA President Dr. Brian Hainline lamented at a press conference, "Quite frankly, it's obnoxious to hear that pickleball noise."
Pickleball's growth has often come at the expense of tennis courts, which are in some cases being taken over or replaced by pickleball courts. And while France's tennis federation made space for a few pickleball courts at this year's French Open, the USTA is taking a different stance: There's nary a pickleball in sight at the US Open, and the USTA is kicking off over 400 pilot programs aimed at promoting "red ball tennis." Hainline describes red ball tennis, which can be played on pickleball courts, as an easier entry point to tennis. He emphasized the beauty of hitting a fuzzy red ball with a racket (it allows for more types of strokes, he says) contrasting it with pickleball, saying, "Not to put it down, but compared to tennis … seriously?"
Despite the competition, Pickleball USA CEO Mike Nealy remains optimistic. He cited the continuous construction of new pickleball courts—there are now 50,000 of them in the US—and investments from prominent figures like Tom Brady and LeBron James. "You're certainly going to have the inherent frictions in communities when tennis people don't feel that they're getting what they want," says Nealy. They're different games but I think they are complimentary. There's plenty of room for both sports to be very successful." (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)
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