Pickleball: The New Trendy Racket Sport

At a press conference at Wimbledon on July 7, 2024, Novak Djokovic stated that tennis clubs are in danger because they risk being converted to padel or pickleball. But do you know this increasingly popular new racket sport? I invite you to discover this trendy discipline in 5 questions.

1- What is pickleball?

Pickleball is a racket game that shares some common characteristics with tennis. In fact, it is sometimes called light tennis in French...

Like tennis, it is played in singles or doubles. Opponents stand on either side of a net and hit the ball back and forth using a racket until one of them makes a fault.

However, this racket sport is distinguished from classic tennis by certain specificities, such as the equipment used, the size of the court, the position of the lines on the court, and the rules of the game.

This game was invented in the United States in 1965 on Bainbridge Island. The rules are said to have been established by Joel Pritchard and his friends Barney McCallum and Bill Bell. And if you are wondering why it is called "pickleball," an anecdote says that this name derives from the Pritchard family's dog, Pickles!

2- What equipment is used in pickleball?

Pickleball players use a solid-faced paddle, somewhat like in ping-pong, although its dimensions are different.

The lightweight tennis paddle is larger than the one used in table tennis and is used to hit a perforated hollow plastic ball.

Since this sport can be played indoors or outdoors, there are two types of balls: one for indoor play and another, with more holes, for outdoor play.

3- What does a pickleball court look like?

A pickleball court is much smaller than a tennis court. It is the size of a double badminton court, which represents less than a third of the surface area of a classic tennis court!

The net is placed at a height of 36 inches, or 0.91 m, just like in tennis. In fact, in tennis, the height of the net at the center must be 0.914 m.

However, the positioning of the lines on the court is specific to this sport. On either side of the net, there are two zones of 7 feet (or 2.1 m) called non-volley zones. In these zones, the ball can only be hit with the paddle after it has bounced.

4- What are the rules of pickleball?

In pickleball, the serve must be executed using a specific technique, hitting the ball below the waist. According to the official rules of the game, only the player or team serving can score a point. Each game is played in two sets of 11.

After the serve, the ball must bounce once on each side of the net before players are allowed to volley. And of course, to perform this move, they must not step into the non-volley zone.

The rules of the game are thus quite simple to master and there are only three main faults:
• hitting the ball into the net.
• stepping into the non-volley zone.
• hitting the ball out of bounds.

In this racket sport, one must demonstrate a certain precision like in ping-pong to land the ball beyond the non-volley line.

5- Why play pickleball?

Pickleball has experienced growing popularity worldwide since the 2010s. An official federation was even founded in Quebec in 2011!

In France, this game is the latest addition to racket sports, but it is starting to gain attention. It must be said that this discipline is less physically demanding than tennis, making it more accessible.

Since the rules of the game are simple, you can learn the basics in a few minutes and start playing. If you have ever played ping-pong, padel, or tennis, you will love this new and very fun sport!