One of the reasons Pickleball is taking off is due to its accessibility. It is easier to find a Pickleball game than a tennis game in many major cities. In that sense, it can be argued that Pickleball is “easier” socially and more accessible.
But is Pickleball easier than Tennis from strictly a skills perspective? Many say it is due to a few key reasons. A Pickleball court is smaller and thus takes less power to hit a ball over the net. The mechanics of swinging and handling a tennis racket are also challenging, and something that people pay hundreds of dollars on for in lessons per month. These, along with the level of accessibility of Tennis vs Pickleball, are some of the main reasons it is believed that Pickleball is easier to play than Tennis. But let’s explore each one further.
You don’t have to cover as much ground during play
A tennis court’s area is 2,808 feet as opposed to a standard pickleball courts’ 880 feet. This means that tennis players have much more ground to cover. You’ll expend more energy to return a tennis ball, and that means that tennis players will have to use skill in making effective contact with the tennis ball as they are much more gassed. It’s just plain harder. It’s not that you don’t move at all in Pickleball, but on some points you could volley the ball back and forth a few times and not even move much because the court is much smaller.
It takes less power to serve and return a Pickleball
You’ll have a harder time successfully returning a tennis ball and keeping a volley going in tennis than in Pickleball. There are two reasons for this. The first is that it takes more power and skill to accurately hit a Tennis ball than a Pickleball. This is especially true if you are serving or returning a tennis ball from the back of the court. The second reason is plainly because Tennis rackets are heavier than pickleball paddles.
It looks less intimidating
The fact that Pickleball looks a lot like Ping Pong has a psychological affect on whoever plays it. Ping Pong is not an intimidating game. Offices of tech companies all across silicon valley buy Ping Pong tables for their employees to play on. One of the reasons is that it is easy to pick up. Playing Pickle ball for the first time is easier to do for people who are familiar with ping pong, and the psychological affect makes it easier to make that decision the first time you play.
Tennis on the other hand is intimidating. Its a higher class game that takes quite a bit of skill. This makes it harder for the every day man or woman to imagine themselves playing tennis.
You don’t need to wear nice clothes to fit in
Building on the last point, Pickleball players can dress however the hell they want. If you showed up to the Pickleball courts in jeans and a Led Zeppelin t-shirt, Pickleball folks might look at your weird and bust your balls. But after they’d welcome you into their game with open arms.
Show up to a nice Tennis court or a country club on the other hand in this atttire however, and you’ll feel super judged. So not only do you have to pay more to play, you now have to wear nice clothes that are expensive. That raises the bar for many aspiring Tennis players who just want to have fun playing a sport and not have to worry too much about appearance.
You don’t have to find an open tennis court to play
Another thing that make Pickleball easier in the accessibility sense is that you can set up shop anywhere where there is space and a hard surface. This could be a recess blacktop on a school campus on a Saturday, a basketball court that never gets used, or even someone’s driveway in your neighborhood (if its big enough).
Tennis, however, is harder to plan because you will have to play on a tennis court. There are only a limited number of courts available publicly, and they may be crowded on weekends if they are. In order to skip the crowd, you’ll have to pay to be a part of a country club, which makes it tougher to get court time.
Scoring is easier to understand
Finally, some people get tripped up by the scoring system in Tennis. It is a little bit more difficult to understand than Pickleball. It doesn’t take rocket science to understand tennis scoring, but they could have gone with an easier scoring system to not make it seem so hoity toity.
Conclusion
Pickleball is an easier sport not only to play, but to start playing. With the ability to set up a Pickleball court anywhere there is a hard surface, and the fact that its easier to learn how to hit and play Pickleball from day one, Pickleball is an easier sport to play than Tennis.