Tennis needs to figure a way to work with pickleball, says leading journalist

A large section of tennis fans have been left annoyed by the growing popularity of pickleball, particularly in the United States, and leading journalist Jon Wertheim feels that it is important to find mutual co-existence between the two racket sports.

The 2023 Miami Open final between Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner took place at the Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday (April 2). Simultaneously, tennis legends Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, and John McEnroe took part in the 'Pickleball Slam' event in Florida.

Several fans marked their irration with the same, even expressing fear of the newly emerging racket sport displacing tennis. One fan stated that something "seems off," reflecting on the legends endorsing pickleball during the ATP Masters 1000 tournament final.

"on one channel I have Miami finals and on the other channel 4 tennis legends are playing pickleball in Miami at the same time (and are not watching the final), something seems off…," the fan wrote on Twitter.

Reacting to the tweet, Wertheim opined that the best solution to the tennis-pickleball debate will be advocating for a mutual co-existence between the two sports.

"Tennis needs to figure out a way to work with pickleball and not against it. Ride the wave. Use it to accentuate Sinner/Medvedev not cannibalize it….This is a popular podcast that advertisers love right now. Tennis should be (or should’ve been) Spotify," his tweet read.

Meanwhile, another user opined that the proposed notion by Wertheim is as deranged as incorporating baseball and cornhole.

"This is like saying baseball should work with cornhole. The PB fad will fade soon enough. It’s already happening."

At odds with the statement, Wertheim reckoned that there is a "real overlap" in the current context between tennis and pickleball, unlike baseball and cornhole, which are entirely different.

"Except if cornhole used a bat and four bases; co-opted baseball diamonds as its playing surface; and had the money to recruit four baseball legends to compete in cornhole the same time as the World Series…There is real overlap here. both sports would do well to recognize it," he wrote.

---

Tennis and pickleball don't have to be competitors: Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi at the 2019 Australian Open

Andre Agassi recently stated that the two racket sports do not have to compete against each other. The American admitted that he is biased towards tennis, however, elucidated that it is fun to transfer his skills from one sport to another.

"Tennis and pickleball don't have to be competitors. We're really not. I'm biased [towards] tennis because it's given me my livelihood, but transferring tennis skills to other racquet sports can be a really fun thing to do," Agassi said.

With players like Andre Agassi, Serena Williams, and Andy Murray backing pickleball and a section of fans opposing it, the debate between the two sports seems to be never-ending at the moment.