In recent years, pickleball has consistently been among the fastest-growing sports in the United States. This year, in fact, it occupied the top spot, recording a 171.1% growth rate over basketball’s 16.2% and flag football’s 8.1%. More importantly, pickleball’s competitor, tennis, recorded just 32.3% growth, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. That disparity is notable because pickleball’s rise in popularity has garnered frustration among tennis players, including members of the Burlingame tennis team.
“They always build the pickleball courts on tennis courts,” sophomore Lyra Sheng said. “They paint the lines for pickleball courts, and the lines can be a little bit confusing when mixed in with the tennis court lines.”
Sheng, who competes on the girls’ tennis team, has played games where pickleball line markers led to incorrect line calls.
“Carlmont High School does [have pickleball lines on tennis courts],” said Sheng. “The lines for the pickleball courts and the lines with tennis courts are very similar colors. So we definitely made a handful of really bad line calls.”
Sophomore and casual pickleball player Drew Gall recognized the tennis team’s frustrations; however, he still feels that pickleball lines should be installed on tennis courts.
“I think it’s a good thing [that they are being installed on tennis courts],” Gall said. “I also feel like tennis courts should have the priority [over pickleball].”
The increased demand for the sport has caught the attention of the Burlingame Recreation Center, which has changed tennis and basketball courts to accommodate pickleball players.
“We’ve gotten a lot of demand to add pickleball in, so we started off with putting pickleball courts on our basketball courts at Washington Park,” Recreation Supervisor Molly Crossfield said. “So we started that program on the basketball court and then on the first [tennis] court of Washington Park, and it was drop-in.”
The new pickleball courts in Washington Park have already made it more difficult for the Burlingame tennis team to find courts.
“There [are] tennis courts in Washington Park, and there used to be six tennis courts available if I remember correctly,” said Sheng. “Now, one of them has just been converted completely into a pickleball [court]. You can always find pickleball players there.”
The City of Burlingame has also recently voted to add four additional pickleball courts on two of the tennis courts at Washington Park. This is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2024. While some tennis players may see this as disheartening, the increasing population of pickleball players will be sure to take advantage of the new courts.
“I feel like it’s pretty easy to pick up,” Gall said. “It’s a pretty simple sport, [and] I think that’s [why] I enjoy it a lot.”
