I was thrilled when the USTA announced a new strategy to teach beginning “red ball” tennis lessons on pickleball courts. This idea makes a lot of sense because the number of tennis courts sacrificed to pickleball has created a terrible capacity shortage. Additionally, I have to confess that I liked the idea of giving pickleballers a taste of their own medicine. At the time, I believed the initiative heralded a new aggressive strategy toward defending our turf against pickleball. As it turns out, I was wrong.
Last week, I had the opportunity to take a new photo of the Nemours Family Zone at the USTA National Campus. Combining that with a photo I took of that same area a few years ago provides a valuable before-and-after perspective. Things have changed.
When the USTA National Campus first opened, the Nemours Family Zone was populated with Quickstart tennis courts. The windscreens consisted of advertising banners for Net Generation tennis. Those courts were dual-lined for pickleball, but it was clear that tennis was the primary usage. Unfortunately, that space has now been resurfaced and lined exclusively for pickleball. Gone are the Net Generation banners, which have been replaced with generic dark green windscreens. Additionally, the courts are not dual-lined for Quickstart tennis.
As one saving grace, when I initially noticed the conversion, the courts were full of kids taking tennis lessons using red dot balls. However, at other times, the courts were dominated by adult pickleball players. It simultaneously maximizes the usage of the Nemours Family Zone while also standing as a sad testimonial of how pickleball continues to subsume tennis courts.
The new initiative to teach red ball tennis lessons on pickleball courts isn’t a bold new front in the battle to reclaim tennis space. Instead, it is a tactical capitulation. The narrative of strategically replacing courts lost to pickleball has faded into a far more sobering reality. It’s not a stroke of genius—it’s controlling the narrative to rationalize a loss. What initially appeared to be an innovative way to introduce new players to tennis isn’t that at all. It is actually the only way to preserve youth programming in a space where tennis is no longer the top priority.
It makes me very sad.
Personally, I find this change to coaching red ball tennis on Pickleball courts a welcome change. When I coached 30+ years ago, I had an indoor session for young children aged 4 and up on badminton courts called ‘mini-tennis’ which the LTA in the UK were pushing at the time. The rackets were shorter, strung rackets and we used sponge balls. Unfortuantely the sponge balls were not durable – occasionally, children would pluck pieces of the sponge which ruined the bounce of the balls! THe red ball is much better. The mini-tennis sessions were great fun and they were really enjoyed by the students. It was a great introduction to the ‘grown up’ game which previously required children to use full size or nearly full size rackets. Using pickleball courts as a way to develop tennis players is a welcome initiative.