There are some intractable features of tennis that put the sport at a significant disadvantage to pickleball for attracting and retaining new players. As discussed in yesterdays post, the pickleball learning curve is less daunting and the sport is physically less demanding than tennis. Additionally, the geometry of pickleball supports better socialization and it takes significantly less time to complete a game. It is no wonder why the growth of pickleball participation threatens to completely overtake tennis.
It is important to understand that tennis cannot change itself to be more competitive with pickleball across these fundamental dimensions:
- The learning curve for tennis is steeper than pickleball. There is no practical way to modify tennis that eliminates the skills required to play the sport.
- Pickleball is physically less demanding. More running, strength, and balance is required for tennis than pickleball. Tennis cannot be changed to eliminate the difference in physical intensity.
- Smaller courts facilitate more social interaction. Since pickleball is played on a smaller court, all the players are in close proximity to each other and there is more banter than playing tennis. It is really hard to carry on a conversation from opposite baselines on a tennis court.
- It takes less time to play pickleball than tennis. The smallest equitably competitive unit of tennis is a set. A pickleball game takes significantly less time to play than a full tennis set.
The USTA has been experimenting with shortened formats of tennis. That may be motivated in part by a belief that shortening tennis play would make the sport more attractive to pickleball players. Unfortunately, no-ad scoring, Fast4, and other “innovations” previously reserved for salvaging tournaments after extensive rain delays can never span that chasm.
It’s Just For Fun
The whole vibe of pickleball is that it is just for fun. More specifically, pickleball does not have a culture of grievances, protests, and disqualifications. It is simply not in the policies and procedures of the governing body. A sport that is played primarily for enjoyment does not need those things.
As players enter the tennis ecosystem, league play is usually the first form of formal engagement with USTA sanctioned play. “Grievances and USTA League Regulations 2022” discusses how the document is dominated by punitive aspects of play.
New players to tennis have to run a self-ratings gauntlet in tennis that is fundamentally flawed. Combined with the overwhelming litigious nature of USTA League regulations, it is a crucible for off-putting behavior. The culture of USTA League tennis can be pedantic, insular, and flat out mean.
Pickleball doesn’t have a culture of overarching punitive regulation. It is “fun” and the behavior of the playing community reflects that. While league organizers and some players will certainly assert that tennis is also supposed to be fun, the sport — as expressed through USTA League Regulations — has lost its way.
Since USTA League is the dominant form of adult tennis, it has the most profound impact on the culture of the adult playing community in general. There are several people in my tennis orbit that have dropped out of USTA League play altogether because it is no longer enjoyable to them.
The USTA and the broader community needs to find a way to make tennis fun again. You know… like pickleball.
