While there’s no arguing with the stratospheric success of Padel in Cape Town (and South Africa), there’s a new cowboy in town when it comes to ball sports to capture our sporting imagination.
Padel is famously the fastest-growing racket sport in Europe and South America (not to mention Mzansi), but across the Atlantic, it’s Pickleball that’s all the rage.
Pickleball has been the fastest-growing ball sport in the United States since 2021, with around 20 million regular players. Today you’ll find it everywhere from sports clubs to cruise ships, and because a Pickleball court can be set up on existing tennis courts (unlike Padel, no special courts needed) it’s easier to roll out. That’s why new Pickleball clubs are popping up monthly across South Africa.
So how is it different?
Pickleball: the basics
For starters, while Padel uses a ball similar to a tennis ball, Pickleball is played with a perforated plastic ball – known as a ‘wiffle ball’ – and a solid plastic paddle. In that sense, if Padel is like a shrunken game of tennis, Pickleball is like a giant-sized game of table tennis.
Pickleball is played on a court 13.41 meters long by 6.10 meters wide (by comparison, a Padel court is 20m x 10m), which is the same size as a doubles badminton court. Pickleball courts have a two-metre non-volley zone – known as ‘the kitchen’ – on either side of the net, so players can’t just camp at the net and smash everything that comes their way!
How to play Pickleball
Games are typically played as doubles, with the first team to 11 (winning by two) winning the game. You only score on your serve; in doubles, scores are called with three numbers (serving team, receiving team, and server number).
Each game starts with an underhand serve (below the waist) diagonally cross-court, from behind the baseline. The serve must bounce once before being returned, and the return must bounce once before being returned with a groundstroke (known as a ‘dink’). Only after those two bounces may either side volley.
With no glass walls, Pickleball is often seen as more tactical than Padel, and more forgiving than tennis (smaller court, slower ball), which makes it more accessible. It’s hugely social and easy to learn, but hard to master.
Intrigued? Step up to the baseline!
