From Balls to Walls: Are Pádel and Pickleball the new game in town? Where does it leave Tennis??

As Covid hit the world FULL throttle and lingers into what seems like eternity. I came back to tennis vaccinated, boosted, ready to play TENNIS with adults. But I quickly noticed empty tennis courts in the USA. Worse yet, tennis courts were marked with more lines than a zebra’s coat to showcase, Pickleball! Adults were clamoring around tennis courts waiting for their turn to play. Doesn’t take an astute observer of humanity to see players engaged, smiling, bantering back & forth - all in good fun! I’d recently returned from Spain where Pádel had again grown leaps & bounds solidifying THE racket sport in Spain. But Pádel’s been ticking up for years.

As an adult tennis coach, I had to understand, “why not tennis”?

Is Tennis Hard? A little time and these 3 skills will crush your barrier to entry

When covid hit, tennis numbers grew - a little. People liked the safe distanced play of 78ft (23.77m) between baseline to baseline. They could be outside, breathing among other humans safely AND break a sweat. Just like the good-old days😏. But pickleball numbers between 2019 - 2020 soared 21.3% to incredible heights in the US. And Spain’s padel obsession grew even deeper. When I pressed both continents for the shift away from tennis towards these 2 games, it came back … “it’s easier”. As a Tennis Director, this concerns me. How many players can tennis afford to lose without picking up new participants? It became increasingly clear, we need to make tennis a viable sport for everyone. Not just top athletes or young kids. It needed to be taught thoughtfully with deep foundations in mind. So adults learned correctly so they could continue to improve and actually feel confident to actually play the game. Not only enter the game and pay for tennis lessons. People wanted to actually feel confident to play with others! The leading motivator being - able to play - with others - which is where the payoff happens. Having fun.

Beginner Tennis: Stop Chasing Your Ball Toss!

Having problems with your serve? The ball toss in tennis is extremely underrated in my coaching opinion. Players come to me on tennis holidays desperate to improve their serves at the intermediate or even higher. It’s always the ball toss I find is a big issue to consistency and accuracy problems with their serve. So often the toss isn’t even on their radar to look for and find fault. The serve is certainly the hardest shot in tennis and it all begins with a ball toss. So this should be your 1st of observation.

But as always, less is more.. Let’s take a deeper look.

A Winning Mindset for Beginner Tennis Players

How much of tennis is mental?

More than 80% of tennis is mental even though most believe it´s a technical and physical game. Having a winning mindset for beginner tennis players means acknowledging where you´re at - NOW. You won’t be there forever but it will take time to feel confident. Build your grit but softly because no one is expecting too much from beginners, so you shouldn’t either. Generate your momentum with small steps which feel like small victories as you learn to play tennis. Trust that with that grit you WILL find success in this game. And show up for your next practice, no matter how rough the last one was.

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