Outside of the competition for scarce court space, the primary source of tension between the tennis and pickleball communities revolves around questions of etiquette. The source of the disconnect is actually rooted in physics and geometry. In tennis, “The Code” in the USTA Friend at Court describes how players should comport themselves on the court. The 2022 Official Rulebook of Pickleball contains similar information, albeit embedded directly within the rules rather than split out as a separate section.
Outside of how spectators might potentially impact play, both the tennis and the pickleball rulebooks are silent. That gap is the source of a lot of misunderstanding between the tennis and pickleball communities.
For example, during the Covid shutdown, the Trophy Husband was playing tennis doubles at a public park on a dual use court that is also lined for pickleball. When an additional group of people arrived and started eyeballing the court, the Trophy Husband’s crew let them know they would be done playing within 15 minutes or so.
Had the arriving group been there for tennis, they most likely would have waited outside the gate. However, the arriving group was there for pickleball. They interpreted the information about the imminent availability of the court as an invitation to come on in. Additionally, they trickled in repeatedly as tennis play continued. The pickleball players actually set up lawn chairs adjacent to the tennis court in the precise location where wide serves are played. It was oblivious interference with the match in progress.
Had the courts been in use for pickleball, the arriving players did not breach the de facto etiquette of that sport. I am told by my tennis friends that play both, that the pickleball community wouldn’t be offended if tennis players entered their court area while they were playing. Additionally, the fact that tennis players typically remain outside the gate is sometimes interpreted as aloof anti-social behavior.
I recently played a tennis match at a country club next to a tennis court that had been permanently reconfigured into four pickleball courts. (RIP.) It was a USTA sanctioned match that would determine advancement to the Sectional Championships. It is another example of how pickleball players sometimes unintentionally annoy tennis players.
That morning the shade on the common bench area was primarily on the tennis side. Some of the pickleball players had children in tow and seated them on the tennis bench. Additionally the kids were watching videos on their tablets without headphones and would restlessly lounge on the ground next to the doubles alley of the tennis court.
As the pickleball players took breaks from active play, they would congregate in the shade immediately adjacent to the tennis net post. Consequently, throughout our tennis match, there was frequently a large gaggle of people in loud conversation in very close proximity.
As one more vignette, at one point the tablet watching kids decided to exit the area on the tennis side of the fence . They did so during a point in progress, which prompted one of the adults to admonish the kids to not do that. However, my fleeting glimmer of hope that self awareness had finally set in was dashed by her next statement. “Those people hit the ball hard. You might get hurt.”
I sincerely do not believe that the pickleball players were being deliberately rude towards tennis. Additionally I also think that had we been playing pickleball rather than tennis, that no breach of etiquette would have occurred at all. That is fundamentally why pickleball players seem to think that the tennis community is uptight and brittle.
The physics and geometry of tennis and pickleball are dramatically different. Fundamentally it comes down to the weight, velocity, and momentum of the ball. The points in tennis are played significantly further beyond the confines of the court lines than pickleball. What constitutes safe and polite space buffers are dramatically different between the sports.
Other than telling the tennis community to chill, I don’t think there is a tennis exclusive solution for this. However, we have to find a way to communicate to pickleball players that they shouldn’t take our need for more space as a personal affront.
