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Varsity high-school player, and I've seen little discussion of what I'm personally certain is the big change causing all of this (including the surge in pickleb
by jrm4 3y ago
Varsity high-school player, and I've seen little discussion of what I'm personally certain is the big change causing all of this (including the surge in pickleball)
It's the rackets -- partly because they're ultra-light, but mostly because of how ridiculously grippy the strings are, meaning you can put absurd spin on the ball.
Meaning, a ton more control from the baseline. This effectively renders net-play most of the time dangerous and impossible. You'll notice, no one goes to the net anymore. It's basically full-scale ping-pong now.
Hence, pickleball for regular people, because they'd like to do that.
- notacoward 3y ago> pickleball for regular people, because they'd like to do that. It's not just regular people (try getting on the court with either Collin Johns or Anna Leigh Waters) but it is because they'd like to do that. Men's pro tennis got pretty stale during the period of the Big Three's dominance, and hasn't recovered yet (though there are signs of hope). Women's pro tennis was and is more interesting, but still shows signs of being dominated by a single style and not even the most interesting one to watch. A lot of people like a faster paced at-the-net game, with more speed variation and sharper angles instead of "hoo-ah" thwack "hoo-ah" thwack from the baseline. If something about how the game has developed is causing so many players to defect, and grippy strings are as good an explanation as any, then it seems like that should at least be acknowledged even if people are OK with it. It's not like tennis is the first sport to go through this, either accepting it or adopting rule/equipment changes to keep the game more appealing.
- nsvd 3y agoI'd be interested to see a tennis variant where rackets with LESS grip were used.
- AtlasBarfed 3y agoPickelball
- TacticalCoder 3y ago> You'll notice, no one goes to the net anymore. Except the current world number one, Alcaraz, who goes to the net a huge lot, including when he's returning serves (!). Or the future number one, Djokovic (guaranteed to be number one again by the 11th of September): in the Cincinatti final vs Alcaraz, Djokovic even saved a matchpoint by doing a serve and volley. Followed, the very next ball, by another serve and volley from Djokovic. I mean: I see plenty of volleying from the two best players of the moment.
- jrm4 3y agoI confess, I haven't been watching as much lately, I'll check them out.