Andy Roddick and Nick Kyrgios reacted to a claim by a former tennis player who said that pickleball requires more skill than tennis.
Ever since pickleball started to become very popular, there has been a certain rivalry brewing between that sport and tennis. We've seen some overlap with many tennis players trying out the sport, but it wasn't a welcome change on the grassroots level.
Due to pickleball's popularity exploding in the United States, many tennis courts were transformed into pickleball courts, which left many hobby players fuming. The infrastructure for tennis is generally lacking in many parts of the world, so this wasn't something many fans wanted to see.
Also, there were those like John McEnroe who laughed off suggestions that the sport would overtake tennis in the future. Christian Alshon, who is a former tennis pro who switched over to pickleball, recently claimed that the sport requires more skill than tennis, which both Nick Kyrgios and Andy Roddick didn't agree with.
"Pickleball has made me a much better athlete than Tennis ever did. Faster reaction time and speed are needed since the ball is only coming from 10 feet away. Point for point, pickleball requires more skill than tennis."
Kyrgios invested in a pickleball club, while Roddick played in a Pickleball Slam, but neither of the two agreed with the claims made.
"Yeah. Let’s hide under the bed after this statement hahahaha bro get me the best pickleball player and compare his talent to Roger Federer. Wild tweet, wild thought. Delete right now. I love pickle. But you had too many tequilas."
"It’s pretty hard to say one of the most ridiculous things on Twitter in a given day. Tell you what. If anyone pickle person ever ranks higher in tennis than what Sock will be at end of this year in his new paid pickle hobby, I’ll commentate a pickle match standing on my head. This ain’t a real discussion. Fun game. Dumb conversation."