"Why don't you take that pickleball and shove it up your a**?" - Tennis and pickleball players fight over San Francisco court

Tennis and pickleball players in San Francisco are engaged in a turf war, and Stern Grove is the scene of the conflict.

The County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park was crowded with players of both sports on Thursday to review four plans for new courts, just one of which would contain tennis — a fact that sparked an argument among the attendees.

With an estimated 4.8 million participants, pickleball is the sport with the quickest growth in the United States. With its plastic balls and paddles that are shorter and lighter, the game is a fusion of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong and is more straightforward to play.

San Francisco plays an integral part in this development and currently has 11 pickleball-specific and 139 tennis courts. Although Rec & Park has 59 pickleball courts, most are shared with the other sports' players and demand that pickleball players bring their net.

Pickleball players want eight additional pickleball-only courts built at Stern Grove, which is undergoing renovations. The courts are located in a shared space, which was damaged by floods last year due to a water leak.

“But I know this will change my life,” asserted a pickleball player.

Will deBruynKops, a pickleball player, talked about his love of pickleball and the community. He also spoke about the city's uneven distribution of courts.

Angus Wong brought up the possibility of placing pickleball courts in underutilized parking lots and emphasized that pickleball players had other alternatives in the city, but he was cut short by the raucous jeers of pickleball enthusiasts.

"There's no point in cannibalizing tennis courts or any existing sports facility for your pickleball courts," Wong said.

Before Thursday night's meeting, Martha Ehrenfeld, the co-chair of TCSF and, ironically, an enthusiastic pickleball player, discussed her organization's stance.

"Converting tennis courts into pickleball courts is not the answer," she said.

"Why don't you take that pickleball and shove it up your a**?!" a tennis player apparently told Suzy Safdie.

Those words were exchanged after one of their errant balls stopped a tennis match at Stern Grove.

The Recreation and Park Commission will eventually determine Stern Grove's status as a pickleball-only area. There has been no information on the timing of the decision. However, because so much work has already been done on this issue, a Rec and Park official predicted it would happen soon.

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Kim Clijsters joins James Blake as former tennis professionals-turned-owner in Major League Pickleball

Kim Clijsters is now a joint Major League Pickleball owner.

James Blake greeted Kim Clijsters, a fellow former tennis player, as one of the owners of Major League Pickleball (MLP) with a humorous remark stressing Clijsters' extraordinary skills.

The Lions are one of 12 MLP clubs and are owned by Blake and Marc Lasry, who also owns the Milwaukee Bucks. The upcoming MLP season will include 16 teams. Clijsters, who has played pickleball frequently since she retired, is now the co-owner of a new MLP team along with NFL great Tom Brady.

Following Clijsters' arrival, Blake took to social media and joked that he is no longer the best former tennis player among the athlete owners in Major League Pickleball.

"Welcome to the league Kim Clijsters. I started as the best athlete of the owners. Then Drew Brees came along. But at least I stayed the best tennis player. Now I've got nothing."