The rise of pickleball and padel

[tabletennisdaily1]

What pickleball has done is that there is there is a pro tour that pays pros to play and have video coverage and commentary. They make money from amateur entry fees and brand sponsorships (pickleball, pickleball health related products, and now some bigger non-pickleball brands like Bubly). There is also now a team based event several times a year with big name athletes buying into teams like Kevin Durant and Nick Kyrgios

Basically, there would need to be a super rich/powerful person that has the initial capital to start a "pro" league like they have in europe or japan. Then once a critical mass of interest is created, get brand sponsorships for advertising to perpetually support it

Currently, there is just one off table tennis tournaments and nationals. Some actually do have decent prize money, but there is no established "pro tour" or "team league" that would be necessary to take table tennis' popularity to the next level.

 

[brokenball]

From what I have gathered. Pickel ball was started in Washington State where I live. Yes, I have seen the popularity spread. I have considered playing. It seems that it appeals to older folks, like me, that aren't as mobile as we use to be. The advantage I see is that one doesn't need to spend a lot on a paddle. However, marketing people have corrupted this sport too since a normal wooden paddle is not good enough for the "pros".
There are places nearby me to play pickle ball. As long as my TT partners are willing to play, I will play TT, but I am old, my practice partners are old too. They can't always play TT for one reason or another. Pickel ball may be my only option to get some exercise. When you are older, playing anything until you drop is the best option.

 

[tabletennisdaily1]

From what I have gathered. Pickel ball was started in Washington State where I live. Yes, I have seen the popularity spread. I have considered playing. It seems that it appeals to older folks, like me, that aren't as mobile as we use to be. The advantage I see is that one doesn't need to spend a lot on a paddle. However, marketing people have corrupted this sport too since a normal wooden paddle is not good enough for the "pros".
There are places nearby me to play pickle ball. As long as my TT partners are willing to play, I will play TT, but I am old, my practice partners are old too. They can't always play TT for one reason or another. Pickel ball may be my only option to get some exercise. When you are older, playing anything until you drop is the best option.

Pickleball is the most physical friendly tennis derivative, but it is still pretty hard on the body, especially the shoulder and ankles/knees once you get to the intermediate level. Table tennis at a similar skill level is much easier on the body comparatively. Of course, the level of physical ability for both sports depends on the level of play you do. Both sports are old people friendly, with a significant number of old players in both sports around where I live.

Wooden paddles are objectively worse than the current paddle style, honeycomb plastic. However, the decent honeycomb plastic paddles are currently ridiculously overpriced for what they cost to manufacture. Good thing is if you are nice to the paddle you can use it indefinitely.

 

[Jslick89]

So we have some tables in our local shopping mall. Some lady came up to me and pal who were hitting. she started talking about how she plays pickle ball. I made the "mistake" of saying that table tennis has a lot more spin involved than pickle ball and she got really defensive, telling me how much spin there is in pickleball. i shrugged it off lol.

 

[lightspin]

Table tennis has 4 problems:

1) If you do not start playing seriously from a young age, reaching a decent (2600) playing level is impossible. Even at 2600 a serious professional will make you look like an idiot when you play them.

2) The sport is too expensive. $25/hr for table time. $100/hr for coaching. $150/per month for rubber (if you are serious you will change rubber every 4 days which means $1050/month). I know a family who budgets $200k a year just for their table tennis activities..

3) Unless the players are very closely matched, practicing/playing is somewhat pointless and not a lot of fun. The better you get, the harder it is to find people to train with.

4) Even if you have an unlimited budget to help you achieve a decent playing level, unless you are a star from a very few select countries, you will not be able to survive on playing alone and you will end up coaching to make a living.

There is a saying "Checkers sells more than Chess" and that is why pickleball will probably do better than table tennis. The general population wants something fun to do. When an adult shows up at a club and plays Smitty Harimoto who screams every point and beats them 11-0, 11-0 and 11-0, they probably will find something else to do with their leisure time. Some people really love the challenge of table tennis and that is probably why most of the people here play. That is part of the appeal. However, the general public wants something easier and more fun to do when they have free time.

 

[tabletennisdaily1]

Table tennis has 4 problems:

1) If you do not start playing seriously from a young age, reaching a decent (2600) playing level is impossible. Even at 2600 a serious professional will make you look like an idiot when you play them.

2) The sport is too expensive. $25/hr for table time. $100/hr for coaching. $150/per month for rubber (if you are serious you will change rubber every 4 days which means $1050/month). I know a family who budgets $200k a year just for their table tennis activities..

3) Unless the players are very closely matched, practicing/playing is somewhat pointless and not a lot of fun. The better you get, the harder it is to find people to train with.

4) Even if you have an unlimited budget to help you achieve a decent playing level, unless you are a star from a very few select countries, you will not be able to survive on playing alone and you will end up coaching to make a living.

There is a saying "Checkers sells more than Chess" and that is why pickleball will probably do better than table tennis. The general population wants something fun to do. When an adult shows up at a club and plays Smitty Harimoto who screams every point and beats them 11-0, 11-0 and 11-0, they probably will find something else to do with their leisure time. Some people really love the challenge of table tennis and that is probably why most of the people here play. That is part of the appeal. However, the general public wants something easier and more fun to do when they have free time.

1. This may be a personal problem that is personally frustrating, but this is not unique to TT compared to other highly developed sports, and it is not something that I think affects the popularity of TT.

2. Maybe in some places this is an issue (like the new fangled PingPod in NYC), but in Dallas for example there are clubs you can play for $5-15 one day or $50-100 per month. Coaching is expensive in any sport.

You don't need to spend $150 per month on rubber. Option one is to get a durable rubber like G-1 or C-1 which will last months. Or buy chinese, which is $5-$20 per rubber. Once you get to 2500 level, you can get sponsored and start getting free equipment (potentially, depends on other factors).

3. True with many other sports too, and the solution is to be creative. First, teach them to feed you multiball. When they get to intermediate level teach them to block for you. That opens a huge array of drills. In exchange you can teach them. If they are serious and you are a good teacher they can hopefully increase there level close enough to eventually at least do warm up and drill practice with you. The problem with less players at high level is very true in pickleball too.

4. Yes, and true for most other sports too.

5. Not quite, in my experience table tennis is wildly popular in a casual setting. Also, if this was true then hardbat TT would be much more popular and developed in the US. Pickleball is mostly popular for other reasons (social aspect, tennis derivative, unique gameplay, etc.), not just because it is easy to pickup or play.

 

[plunder]

I shared this video link on the geman folum a while back as well, one could easily substitute <table tennis> for <pickleball> in the vid imho, what do you think?

5 Reasons to COMPETE in 2025 (especially peeps over 50)​

That vid should go viral. It speaks out of my heart, always has me to 427 tears 😭

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

interesting timing

I was gifted a Joola pickleball racket today by Joola Taiwan.

and just last week, I was with an European friend who told me padel is now dead other than just 1 or 2 countries, while Pickle ball hasn't really taken off yet there, but he reckons they is some push from this summer.

So, I did a bounce test, can't feel anything with that racket and ball....
table tennis, I'm a penholder, guess I have no choice but to play shakehand on pickleball lol

 

[Chunkyrock]

As for TT in America you can hardly find a club with decent players

 

[turbozed]

The biggest advantages to pickleball is the low barrier to entry and the social aspect. Almost everyone plays doubles and the ball is predictable and slow enough where the rally almost always gets past the serve and return phase.

For me, the biggest difference is that I don't have to deal with the usual grumpy old guy or unpredictable child I often encounter at the local TT club. At least in VN, pickleball players range from 20s to 40s, and includes attractive women. And so going to the local club becomes a social event to mingle not unlike going to a bar or something.

I rarely get the same satisfaction sportwise as an intense TT rally. Fast volley rallies can be fun and intense but are rare and far between. But the overall experience of competing with friends of relatively equal skill level often is just enjoyable. Even mixed skill levels in doubles play is somewhat doable since there is no turn taking requirement and you can carry a weaker player.

Finding an even level playing partner consistently in TT is tough even in TT playing cities. And you'll be extremely lucky if that person is pleasant and friendly to be around for a few hours. People who have a group of competitive friends to play with in TT are blessed.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

The biggest advantages to pickleball is the low barrier to entry and the social aspect. Almost everyone plays doubles and the ball is predictable and slow enough where the rally almost always gets past the serve and return phase.

For me, the biggest difference is that I don't have to deal with the usual grumpy old guy or unpredictable child I often encounter at the local TT club. At least in VN, pickleball players range from 20s to 40s, and includes attractive women. And so going to the local club becomes a social event to mingle not unlike going to a bar or something.

I rarely get the same satisfaction sportwise as an intense TT rally. Fast volley rallies can be fun and intense but are rare and far between. But the overall experience of competing with friends of relatively equal skill level often is just enjoyable. Even mixed skill levels in doubles play is somewhat doable since there is no turn taking requirement and you can carry a weaker player.

Finding an even level playing partner consistently in TT is tough even in TT playing cities. And you'll be extremely lucky if that person is pleasant and friendly to be around for a few hours. People who have a group of competitive friends to play with in TT are blessed.

i'm checking how to boost my racket
it is too slow

 

[Tyce]

Padel was a fad and is blowing over. I hope pickleball will do the same as I think it's even worse. It's like someone thought "how can we monetize a children's game?" and they're actually successful with it.
The kids who grew up with all kinds of material fads are now businessmen and making quick cash off the same fads, or following it because it feels nostalgic to follow fads.

 

[NetProphet]

Padel was a fad and is blowing over. I hope pickleball will do the same as I think it's even worse. It's like someone thought "how can we monetize a children's game?" and they're actually successful with it.
The kids who grew up with all kinds of material fads are now businessmen and making quick cash off the same fads, or following it because it feels nostalgic to follow fads.

I completely agree.
I tried them both as was on family holiday so had to partake but every day of the week I'd prefer tennis and Table Tennis.

 

[Milton Table Tennis Club]

🥒🥎 = Checkers
🏓= Chess

 

[CPH_Tiny]

Just jumping in, I'll give my two cents.

I've been playing TT for over 15 years at this point and consider myself an "above average, yet mediocre" player. I've lately been playing padel for fun, too.

I agree with some of the aspects mentioned in the post as to why TT can't explode the same as Padel/pickleball. One that I haven't seen yet is "perception". To the general audience, table tennis is considered a "game", not a "sport". So while you will get people getting emotional over it, most will find it as weird as been an e-sport fan. With the added bonus of not really atracting a wide population like e-games do.

Add to that the reality that you need almost as much space as a pickle ball court to play it correctly, and it doesn't help.

Also, that it can't really be played outside is the nail in the coffin for me. In PB/Padel you can have a good time just chillaxing outside the court in an "open court" meeting. With TT is almost always "smelly basements". That scares away women (with justifiable reason), which makes this even harder to promote.

 

[Sherpa]

I play Table Tennis and Tennis and recently Pickleball. Pickleball will continue to grow because it's the easiest to play of all the racket sports. There is little to no spin involved and most people can get to a reasonable level in a short amount of time. Even playing top level players you can get their serves back and engage in a rally and this is certainly not possible in Tennis or Table Tennis. My wife loves it and I play about once a week on average and can play at a pretty decent level because of my Tennis background. It is difficult to get any feeling on the ball as you do in Tennis or Table Tennis as the bat is hard plastic as are the balls, but you hit a lot of balls which is the part I like

 

[netdriver]

i enjoyed pickleball and i play it more than ping pong lately

imo of why i enjoy pickleball;

1) less elitists, elitists are part of the reason why i am playing table tennis less often. i sure do love (this is sarcasm btw) getting sidelined because i am either too strong or too weak for players. i also love (sarcasm again) getting unwanted advice from people that arent qualified to do so in the first place.

one thing i see pickleball players do better than TT players is that they're absolutely willing to play with newbies.

2) paradoxically, although this is a sport catered for seniors, there are a lot more youths than the elderly playing in the local venues for pickleball.

i myself enjoy mingling with people my own age more, which is not common in my local TT clubs. its mostly just old people in those TT clubs. i am in my early twenties and there are not a lot of people i can relate to.

when you think about why there are more youths playing pickleball it makes sense, nowadays due to time constraints from responsibilities in our lives, we simply do not have as much time to invest in learning new things.

so, low skill ceiling, pickleball it is.

3) despite what people say about how easy the sport is, it is still moderately challenging when you face against experienced opponents. if your opponent is particularly good at smashing and placing the ball short, you will have a rough time.

4) its just so dang easy to just have fun in pickleball in comparison.



out of all these reasons 2 probably speaks to me the most, i just really like to mingle with people around my age, and i can find a lot of those people in pickleball courts.

 

[turbozed]

i'm checking how to boost my racket
it is too slow

View attachment 35486

There's actually an illegal way to modify and 'boost' a pickleball paddle to give it more speed and trampoline effect, and that's known as "core crushing." Basically you compromise the honeycomb lattice support in the core of the paddle so that it becomes overall more elastic and less rigid.

You end up getting way more speed and bounce with it, which is good for some aspects of the game (e.g. hitting hard or "banging"). You get less control but in general the benefits are enough that using core crushed paddles are illegal in competition play. Basically a broken version of the paddle is considered too unfair of an advantage to use.

Also, if you want to have more fun with spin, you can always just glue TT rubbers to the paddle, like these guys did:

 

[blahness]

i enjoyed pickleball and i play it more than ping pong lately

imo of why i enjoy pickleball;

1) less elitists, elitists are part of the reason why i am playing table tennis less often. i sure do love (this is sarcasm btw) getting sidelined because i am either too strong or too weak for players. i also love (sarcasm again) getting unwanted advice from people that arent qualified to do so in the first place.

one thing i see pickleball players do better than TT players is that they're absolutely willing to play with newbies.

2) paradoxically, although this is a sport catered for seniors, there are a lot more youths than the elderly playing in the local venues for pickleball.

i myself enjoy mingling with people my own age more, which is not common in my local TT clubs. its mostly just old people in those TT clubs. i am in my early twenties and there are not a lot of people i can relate to.

when you think about why there are more youths playing pickleball it makes sense, nowadays due to time constraints from responsibilities in our lives, we simply do not have as much time to invest in learning new things.

so, low skill ceiling, pickleball it is.

3) despite what people say about how easy the sport is, it is still moderately challenging when you face against experienced opponents. if your opponent is particularly good at smashing and placing the ball short, you will have a rough time.

4) its just so dang easy to just have fun in pickleball in comparison.



out of all these reasons 2 probably speaks to me the most, i just really like to mingle with people around my age, and i can find a lot of those people in pickleball courts.

Over here badminton is the shit lol. Everyone is playing it, lots of young players too. I play once a week these days too and am improving fast, watching lots of quality youtube tutorials on how to improve my strokes and footwork.

I share your thoughts about TT too. Too many annoying ppl in TT tbh.

 

[netdriver]

Over here badminton is the shit lol. Everyone is playing it, lots of young players too. I play once a week these days too and am improving fast, watching lots of quality youtube tutorials on how to improve my strokes and footwork.

I share your thoughts about TT too. Too many annoying ppl in TT tbh.

i loveeeeee badminton, more so than table tennis

if renting a court is cheap i wouldve played badminton all day