"Pickleball is not the real thing, but it's not demonic" - Tennis should not view new racquet sport 'as a nemesis', says journalist

Pickleball, a popular sport in the USA at the moment, has struggled to find an avid audience among tennis fans. Even though famous journalist Jon Wertheim himself doesn't rate the sport highly, he offered an unassuming take on how it shouldn't be antagonized.

The American writer took on a wide array of questions as part of his mailbag for Sports Illustrated earlier on Wednesday (October 18). One of the fans asked Wertheim whether pickleball compares to tennis at all.

In his response, the 52-year-old drew a rather interesting comparison. He claimed that the much-maligned sport is similar to pitch and putt, an amateur variant of golf. He wrote:

"Pickleball is to tennis what pitch-and-putt is to golf. It's not the real thing. It's not the Big Kid product. But it's not demonic. At best, it's a fun complement, easier to master for kids and seniors. At worst, it's an innocuous picnic game."

Wertheim did concede in the same breath, however, that pickleball didn't deserve so much ridicule from the tennis world.

"No need for the hate. I say it again: Tennis should view pickleball as an onboard or an off board, not as a nemesis. Hey, you like mopeds? Awesome. When you're done tooling around, try this bike with even more horsepower. We call it a motorcycle," he added.

Pickleball has already attracted the likes of Eugenie Bouchard and Jack Sock

Eugenie Bouchard was recently roped in by the PPA to play the new racquet sport

Meanwhile, the paddle sport seems to be catching on quickly with the American public. So far, the likes of 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard, former World No. 8 Jack Sock, American veteran Sam Querrey, former top-50 player Donald Young, and 22-year-old Hurricane Tyra Black have signed up to play on the PPA tour — who are responsible for organizing all of the annual tournaments across the USA.

Tennis legends like Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Michael Chang, and Andy Roddick also made an appearance at an exhibition event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, to promote the sport earlier this year.

The event, which was aimed at further popularizing the sport, was watched countrywide by 237,000 viewers on ESPN, under the age of 50. It outperformed 13 nationally televised MLB games, seven NBA matches, and five NHL games around the same time.