John McEnroe has been busy promoting and preparing for his upcoming participation in the 2nd edition of the Pickleball Slam.
It's been less than two years since McEnroe jokingly called pickleball the "worst" sport. In that time span, he has watched it become the fastest-growing sport in the United States. Its acceleration has seen pickleball locations grow by at least 130 new spots every month this year.
According to the 2023 Association of Pickleball Players report, at least 36.5 million people in the USA have played pickleball once in the past 12 months, which represents 14% of the adult population in the country. The fun part is that some retired tennis players have found a different avenue.
Recently, we've seen Sam Querrey and Jack Sock take up a new career and become pickleball pros after retiring from tennis. John McEnroe, meanwhile, has picked up the paddle in a lucrative match of the Pickleball Slam before and is penciled to play Pickleball Slam 2 next year.
During a recent interview with Manhattan-based writer Adam Zagoria, which was published on Forbes Sports, McEnroe explains how he started to play pickleball, at a time when the tennis world was grappling with the coronavirus pandemic.
"My buddies like to play (pickleball) with me and it’s an equalizer, so that was how I started playing originally. And then all of sudden during the pandemic, everyone was like, “Pickleball.’ And I’m like, ‘What? What about tennis?"
While pickleball has grown in prominence and stature (it has been recognized as an official sport in the state of Washington), McEnroe categorized the paddle sport below tennis. He stated that tennis remained the "king" of racket sports.
Even though the two sports aren't commensurate with each other, McEnroe reckons they do complement each other. The American former World No. 1 opined that players without athletic ability can excel in playing pickleball as it is not physically demanding.
"When I compare it to tennis, you see athleticism that is incredible on the men’s and women’s side. so I look at it as the king of all racket sports. Everything else is below it, it’s just a question of how much below it?"
"As I reflect, I’m hopeful that this helps both sports potentially because everyone’s like, ‘Is this going to hang on, pickleball? What’s with this thing?’ A lot of people that hadn’t had much time on the court and they aren’t that athletic, they get out (playing pickleball and say), ‘Hey, I can play,’ which is good, get people going."
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