Pickleball is an incredibly fast-growing sport, especially in the United States. It was first played in 1965, but it massively started gaining popularity in the 2020s, immediately expanding worldwide and attracting many people.
It's a racket sport, so in its nature, it's relatively similar to tennis, but most things are different in pickleball. It's played with paddles instead of rackets; the ball is hollow and plastic, and there is a part of the court where players may not step when hitting the ball.
The scoring is also different, as pickleball is usually played in the best-of-three set format, first to 21 points in each set. This dramatically differs from tennis scoring, which includes games in sets, sometimes in the best-of-five format, with scoring of 15, 30, and 40.
Like tennis, pickleball is played in men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and also mixed doubles, but unlike tennis, it's the doubles format that has been getting the most attention in pickleball.
The sport has its governing body—the International Federation of Pickleball, which was formed in 2010—and the popular Professional Pickleball Association (PPA), in which most players compete.
Due to its popularity, multiple tennis players have switched to pickleball, and many have played the sport, either recreationally or as part of an exhibition tournament or a match.
Two of the most popular former tennis players who have switched from tennis to pickleball are former ATP World No. 8 Jack Sock, and former WTA World No. 5 and Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard.
While the two compete professionally on the PPA Tour, multiple legends of the sport have competed in a popular exhibition—the Pickleball Slam. Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Steffi Graf, and Maria Sharapova all participated in the one-off exhibition event.
