Racquet Sports Industry (RSi) magazine is one of my favorite tennis news sources. It was previously published as Tennis Industry Magazine and the URL still bears that name. As a sign of the times, the most recent issue of RSi is dominated by news about pickleball, the emergent racquet sport that likely prompted the new moniker. One of the articles this month features tennis great GiGi Fernandez… and her testimony about how much she loves pickleball.
For anyone who needs a primer, Fernandez is enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She has 17 Grand Slam tennis doubles titles and two gold medals. She is widely regarded as one of the best tennis coaches for adults that play doubles. That is why it is so jarring to see her advocacy for the devil’s short court.
The same edition of RSi includes recent industry trend data. In 2021, tennis participation increased 4.5% to a total of 22.6 million participants. That pales in comparison to pickleball which saw a 14.8% rise in participation. At 4.8 million total participants, pickleball only has approximately 21% of the total number of tennis participants. However, that is a lot of traction for a sport that wasn’t even invented until 1965.
Fernandez’s views on pickleball are not inconsistent with what has been embraced by the USTA. Specifically, the idea is that pickleball can be a “gateway” racquet sport that leads people to tennis. While the potential certainly exists, I have yet to personally encounter a pickleball player who later converted to tennis. I do know a lot of tennis players that regularly play pickleball and quite a few that have completely abandoned tennis for their new passion.
The RSi piece on Fernandez makes the case that there is room in the industry for people to play both pickleball and tennis. She believes that the tennis and pickleball industry need to work together to cross promote both sports. I agree in principle, but the reality is that tennis is doing more to promote pickleball than vice versa.
Recent changes in the USTA adult tournament structure are possibly a reaction to the rise of pickleball. Somehow the idea that tennis needs to be shortened has taken hold in the USTA Adult Competition Committee. One prominent characteristic of pickleball is that games are very short which may be the reason that there is a push to shorten the format of tennis played at all competitive levels.
The tennis part of the industry needs better positioning and strategy for the cross promotion of the two sports that Fernandez envisions. I personally don’t believe that making tennis look more like pickleball is a viable long term strategy. Perhaps tennis should lean into the differences between the two sports to emphasize its unique characteristics.
In the meantime, Fernandez is adding programming for tennis players that want to convert to pickleball to her coaching enterprise. Clubs and municipal facilities continue to rip out tennis courts to construct dedicated pickleball courts. The flow of tennis players to pickleball is currently a one way street.
Tomorrow I am going to dissect the key points made in the Fernandez pickleball profile. I will round out this weekend’s “Unplugged” series by identifying the most important adjustment that tennis can make to attract new players. Hint: It’s cultural.
- A New Courtship, Judy Leand, Racquet Sports Industry Magazine, April 2022.
- Year-End Participation, Equipment Sales Continue Upward Trajectory, Racquet Sports Industry Magazine, April 2022.
In the next to last paragraph, I think the word “to” needs to be eliminated from “programming to for tennis”. Otherwise, I share your concern about the one way street from tennis to Pickleball and I’m very concerned about the loss of tennis courts in a time when the sport is growing.