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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Looks like a lot of pickleball haters here. That’s ok, courts are already too crowded.

I’m a tournament/league player, 56 year old. Played USTA league tennis for many years; on multiple teams that advanced to Nationals for my Women’s and Mixed teams.

I transitioned to pickleball after torn ACL injury.

Pickleball was fairly easy transition for me because I already had good groundstrokes, footwork, anticipation, overhead, court coverage. Learning the “soft game” of dinking took a while longer.  Most tennis players come in as “bangers” but realize you cannot progress to 4.0 and higher levels without soft game.

My Mixed partner was 5.0 tennis and now a 5.0 pickleball player. He’s now 50 and playing on the Senior Pro Tour. He also coaches full time pickleball.

I bought a condo in a resort area that has 36 courts. The courts are packed 7 am to 10 pm. The locals who play regularly are like me: retired, former athletes of all sports, want to play competitively, social, keep in good shape, etc.  On an average day I get 5-6 miles on the courts (I wear a watch that tracks my distance).

Tennis was my first love, but just couldn’t continue with my injury.  Pickleball is easier because court is smaller, but it feels similar to tennis.

Pro pickleballers can make significant money. The top male is 24 years old and has 2.5 million contract. There are three different pro tours right now:  PPA, APP, and MLP. Tournaments are played all over the US and are televised. Last week on ESPN and Fox Sports.  Major League Pickleball was recently played in Washington DC. Will be in Virginia Beach in late September.   The majority of top pros are in their 20s…a handful of 17, 18 year olds.  Some also in their 30s.

Jack Sock, Sam Querry, John Isner, Genie Bouchard are all well known tennis pros now playing pro pickleball. Isner just signed paddle contract this week. Donald Young also a pro player.  Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, and Maria Sharapova also do exhibition play.

There are a few female pros from the DC area. Alix Truong (Falls Church) is the highest rated, I believe.

A typical amateur tournament can have well over 1,000 entries.

So, yes, pickleball is for old people. And for people who just want to have fun.  It’s also a pro sport and there is a tremendous market based on demand.

[/quote]

So interesting, thanks for the post![/quote]

Check out MLP YouTube channel to get an idea of what team pickleball is like.

A team is made up of 2 women, 2 men.  They play women’s doubles, men’s doubles, then two mixed doubles.  If score is 2-2, then they play a team singles event (each player plays four points).  It’s actually very entertaining with lots of crazy points.  Sometimes you will see men vs women in singles depending on how the team submits the lineup. [/quote]

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