Pickleball sweeps across the nation, but tennis is never far behind

Tennis predates pickleball by a century, yet in recent years pickleball has more than doubled its new players compared to tennis, which experiences a more gradual incline. The question is: Why is the sport gaining so much traction now?

Tennis is said to be introduced in 1873, when Walter Clopton Wingfield published the first book of rules and took out a patent on the game in 1874. However, the first tennis club was established by Englishman Harry Gem and several associates in 1872, according to Britannica's history of tennis.

There is speculation as to who actually spread the game to the United States in the later 1870's, though. Mary Outerbridge has been credited with bringing rackets and balls to her brother, a director of the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club, but William Appleton may have owned the first tennis set.

Tennis quickly picked up speed with the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club hosting the first U.S. championship in 1880.

Nazla Walsh, a 16-year-old student at Talawanda High School, attended the high school's weekly open courts to play doubles on June 20. She said tennis overall is a better work out for her, and while she doesn't dislike pickleball, the newer sport's retrofitting of tennis courts can be frustrating.

The majority of pickleball courts are positioned on top of tennis courts, with new lines drawn. A standard tennis court is 78 feet; a pickleball court takes up about half that space at 44 feet.

"I just think [tennis is] a really fun sport," Nazla said. "Like there's a lot you can do with it [and] it's kind of a sport you can play for the rest of your life."

In 2024, The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has spread across more than 68 nations. ITF's Global Tennis Report 2021 stated that the sport had nearly 90 million players internationally, an increase of 4.5% since 2019.

Even though pickleball has been around for less time, in 2023 the sport was played in 60 countries across six continents, according to the World Pickleball Federation.

Jonathan Stoner grew up playing tennis. He even played in college. However, the Middletown resident switched to pickleball five years ago, and he's even teaching a camp this summer.

"It's so popular because it's an equal opportunity sport," Stoner said, "and more fast-paced than tennis."

In 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum came up with pickleball to keep their kids occupied during the summer, according to USA Pickleball. It's a mix of tennis, badminton and ping pong designed for the whole family to play.

Pritchard and Bell started playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic balls on a badminton court and over time adjusted things like net height and rules to form pickleball.

In the United States, the sport has grown expeditiously, and Ohio is one of the leading states. More than 800,000 players across WI, MI, IL, Ohio and IN now play pickleball regularly. This region makes up the second most pickleball players in the U.S.

Head tennis coach Nate Silberstein at Talawanda High School said he hasn't had the chance to play pickleball yet, but he sees people playing it every time he drives past courts.

"I talked with other coaches around the area for however many years now, and I actually thought maybe it would already have become like an interscholastic sport in Talawanda," Silberstein said. "It hasn't yet ... But I could definitely see it happening someday."

In Ohio, pickleball has already surpassed tennis in the number of total courts. The state now has more than 1,600 pickleball courts according to USA Pickleball, while tennis has nearly 1,100 across Ohio according to Global Tennis Network.

Middletown, Ohio is one of the leading cities in Ohio, with a reputation as the pickleball capital. The Middletown Pickleball Association (MPA) has hundreds of members who play in different skill-level leagues with various community members.

Kim Saylor, a 62-year-old pickleball player, picked up a paddle two years ago when she started playing with the MPA. What started out as friendly matches in her neighborhood led to her losing 25 pounds and playing in co-ed league teams.

"This is a great organization," Saylor said. "They offer entry [levels] to pickable courses, they have instructors, they have players that volunteer to instruct and you can go all the way up to the top levels in this organization."

For Oxford residents who want to get involved in either sport a little closer to home, the TRI Community Center has four dedicated pickleball courts and one tennis court, with two additional pickleball courts painted over the tennis court. Silberstein also hosts open courts for tennis at the high school every Thursday from 6-8 p.m.