Pickleball provides second chances for pros and amateurs alike

Joe Mathews

Contributor

Last Edited

Oct 22 2025

When tennis game declined, pickleball was the perfect competitive outlet

I started playing tennis when I was 18 -- late by tennis standards. By the time I was 25, I won gold in a men’s doubles local tournament, and my partner and I dominated our 4.0 and 4.5 leagues, going 20-1. That’s when I peaked.

Up until about age 50, I continued to play at 4.0 in recreational singles. Having a height and strength disadvantage at only 5-foot-6, I also possessed bad tennis mechanics that resulted in little power.

I played with grit, speed and stamina, employing a “golden retriever” style of play, always getting the next ball back and chipping-and-charging to the net for putaways.

At 51, I lost a step and started squash-shotting balls I was previously running down and setting up to hit corners. At 55, I began letting balls go by me to conserve energy. At 58, I looked in the mirror and saw an over-the-hill 3.5 player and decided to hang it up.

My 40-year love affair with tennis officially ended. I gave my tennis racquets to charity and my ball machine to a tennis buddy whose kid was playing for the high school team. Now what was I going to do? For the first time in nearly 60 years, I didn’t have a sport.

At the time, I lived in a work-live-play community in Franklin, Tennessee, which had six new pickleball courts. I hated that sport. I was a purist tennis snob who swore an oath never to play a sport named after some mangy, Washingtonian dog.

Dinking looked stupid. But like many others during the COVID-19 pandemic, I eventually cracked. I tried it, and gradually fell in love with the game.

Learning to play pickleball the right way

During my tennis years, I developed poor mechanics that I never corrected, which forever limited my game. I decided to learn pickleball the right way, whatever that meant in 2021.

Tara -- my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) -- and I signed up for a 3-day clinic in Atlanta. We were excited about the mechanics we learned at the clinic, and raved about the young instructor Riley Newman.

I didn’t know who Riley was at the time. Imagine a sport where for $600 you can spend three days learning from the No. 2 ranked player in the world! Within a year, my neighbor and I took gold in a 3.5 tournament and bronze in another.

Tara and I won a couple silvers at 3.0 mixed. We see Riley at tournaments and he is always gracious to say hello. In 2022, my girlfriend and I moved from Tennessee to Northeastern Florida, where I currently reside.

A couple of months later, I received an email from somewhere announcing that Jay Devilliers was holding a one-day clinic at a park three miles from my house. Tara and I signed up along with about 14 others.

During introductions, Jay learned Tara and I were in a romantic relationship, where he playfully and gleefully announced to the group, “Joe! What’s the matter with you! PUT A RING ON HER!!!!” I jokingly responded, “Gee Jay, normally I don’t sign up for pickleball clinics to receive unsolicited relationship advice, but I thank you for your concern.”

On a side note, I had already purchased Tara’s ring, and it was getting sized at the jewelers. A week or two later, I sent Jay a picture of the engagement ring on Tara’s hand, letting him know I followed his pickleball-relationship advice. Jay, a true gentleman with polite manners, immediately called us to congratulate us on our pending marriage. Jay remains a good acquaintance.

Now I am 62 years old. Tara and I play 2 or 3 times a week, splitting our time between our local rec center and Pictona in Holly Hill, Florida, a 40-court pickleball mecca about an hour from our house. Players of all ages and levels are happy to see us and willing to play with and against us.

Pickleball provides us friendships, fun, competition and a community, and even occasional free medical advice from a retired pathologist friend. I also play on a 4.0 men’s team, and my win-loss record is 16-2.

Pickleball is an age level-setter. Comparatively, I am as competitive as a pickleball player at 62 as I was in tennis at 30. As I said before, I was never a great athlete. I won by always playing all out and never conceding a point. My joy was going all out all the time, and then going home exhausted.

I never thought I would ever experience another go-all-out-and-go-home-exhausted experience again, except maybe after mowing the lawn when it’s 95 degrees and 90% humidity in Florida. Then I found pickleball.

Joe Mathews is a pickleball enthusiast who posts content under the moniker, “Your Friendly Neighborhood Unpaid Pickleball Investigative Reporter and Provocateur”