The good news is there was some high-class tennis. The main draw tournament went on for the same length of time as the Twelve Days of Christmas, and Cam Norrie played his opening match four-and-a-half days after the women's first round started. The Miami Open is over, and with it the initial hard-court segment of the season. Sunday's 'Pickleball Slam', complete with McEnroe's compulsory amateur dramatics, was an example of the kind of innovative thinking which the more established sport too often lacks.
Tennis would do well not to regard either with too lofty a disdain. By the same token pickleball, in particular, has fewer dimensions and is less interesting for spectators. To this pair of eyes pickleball is a perfectly dreadful sport to watch, though its fast-rising numbers are testament that it is fun to play. As with padel, its big advantage over tennis is that it is extremely easy to pick up and an equaliser between talent levels. Sunday will only have revved up that conflict, though a $1million prize fund was evidently enough to salve any concerns among the four Grand Slam champions. In some places tennis players have become frustrated to the point of anger by courts being taken over by its short-form rival, with different painted lines appearing on existing facilities. On recent visits to the US you hear more and more about a sort of culture war developing between tennis and pickleball (for the uninitiated, a sort of mini-tennis with a harder ball and paddle that create an annoying clack). Nike declined to comment on the possibility. The earliest realistic date for that is probably 2032, and it would be massive. Tennis has to get rid of its disdain for forms like pickleball and look at why they are so popularĪccording to some, industry giants Nike are planning to follow others in making a significant move into the game, which has already enjoyed widespread growth across Europe and South America.Īttracting such a powerful brand would be a boost, among other things, to padel's hopes of gaining acceptance into the Olympics.
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