Venus Williams is supportive of the emergence of pickleball, even though some in the tennis circles have branded it as a potential rival to tennis.
As one of the global sports of today, tennis is likely not going to be threatened by an emerging racket sport. However, some have pointed out the troubling trend of tennis courts being repurposed as pickleball courts in the United States.
While tennis as a business likely won’t suffer, the sport on a grassroots level might, which is why some in the tennis community have taken an antagonistic stance towards the emerging sport.
Venus Williams doesn’t share that attitude as she’s quite excited by the rise of the sport, believing that the rise of any racket-based sports is a good thing for tennis as well.
She recently had a Q and A session during which she was asked about the rise of pickleball, and she simply said that she’s happy to see more people with rackets in their hands.
"Pickleball is growing and I’m happy to see folks with any kind of racquet in their hand."
There have been some tennis players who have picked up pickleball, such as former tennis player Noah Rubin, who transitioned to the sport full-time. John Isner was spotted playing the sport as well, giving it a positive review as well.
"I love pickleball. Isn’t it fun? And I love that it’s everywhere now. It could be a second career of mine. I love it, it’s a lot less running."
Time will tell whether the sport will be able to threaten tennis in any capacity, but for now, the hype train doesn’t seem to be stopping with both Williams sisters fully on board. For now, though, it seems to be mostly a US-based thing as it hasn’t taken off similarly outside of that country.
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