Time and time again, we’ll post a pro pickleball highlight on our Instagram, usually of a long point where one side keeps the other pushed back to the baseline, only to receive a comment that says something like this: “Why not play a drop shot after all those defensive shots? The other team was way back.” – […]
There’s a narrative perpetrated by national media outlets (and now, tennis champions) recently: pickleball is a threat to tennis. It may seem like countless droves of former tennis players and country clubbers now prefer pickle. It may sting longtime tennis holdouts to see some of their courts sacrificed to some newfangled, migraine-inducing racquet sport. But this doesn’t tell […]
We weren’t surprised when a research company confirmed that, as outdoor temperatures rise, so too does the number of people playing pickleball. Of course, we thought. Why even bother researching that? According to Civic Science, who conducted the research, the percentage of U.S. adults who played pickleball within 30 days of being surveyed has increased from 4.2% in […]
Pickleball may still be the fastest-growing sport in North America, but calling it that overshadows how significant its growth is in other areas of the world – especially in Asia. Over 10,000 courts and 100 million players are expected in China over the next five years. But there’s another Asian nation that’s taking pickleball infrastructure […]
The pickleball community now has two organizations certifying pickleball paddles for professional use in tournaments: USA Pickleball (USAP), the first American governing body in the sport, and United Pickleball Association of America (UPA-A), the newcomer under UPA, the organization that formed earlier this year to operate the merged PPA Tour & Major League Pickleball. Since UPA-A announced […]
Why do they call it ‘pickleball’? You’d think the origins of such a distinct name would be easy to trace. But the history of pickleball’s name is fraught with contention. Since the sport’s creation in 1965, two popular theories have emerged: the boat theory and the dog theory. Fans of the sport are likely already […]
There’s an expression you’ll hear at pickleball courts around the world: “I just got beat by a grandpa/grandma,” or something to that effect. Sometimes, it’s said with an ageist attitude, as if the younger player could not possibly believe they were defeated by someone older than them. But mostly, it’s uttered in respectful awe of […]
You may not be surprised to learn that the top men’s pickleball player, Ben Johns, is a multimillionaire. Ben recently revealed his 2024 salary is over $2 million, and that’s not including endorsements. While the audience for pro pickleball is significantly smaller than the total number of recreational pickleball players, being the best at anything is bound to get you […]
You could say that pro pickleball is still in its infancy. After all, only a tiny fraction of the millions of pickleball players actually know or care about the pro scene. But that number is growing, and the people who do care about it are pretty fanatical. While I’m only a fairly recent convert to […]
