TENNIS AND PICKLEBALL— A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN?
BY JUSTIN MALOOF
USTA’ s new 14,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
At the invitation of the USTA, I had the privilege of spending a week at their showcase event— the US Open. This year, the USTA completed construction on their new 14,000- seat Louis Armstrong Stadium at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, NY. The new stadium, complete with retractable roof, is spectacular and serves as a true complement to the 23,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium that also features a retractable roof and is billed as the largest tennis stadium in the world. While I was certainly familiar with this event over the years, the opportunity to attend was an eyeopening experience. The USTA has done an exceptional job establishing this tournament as not only the sport’ s premier tournament, but also a true“ bucket list” event for sports enthusiasts.
The opportunity to see the top tennis players in the world compete was special, but the purpose of the trip was a number of scheduled meetings with various USTA officials, tennis industry representatives and current and potential sponsors, all of whom were interested in discussing one thing— pickleball!
While most pickleball players are aware of the tennis / pickleball debate and co-existence issues, I’ m happy to report the USTA officials I met with were very complimentary of USAPA’ s efforts and the sport in general. In fact, in the July issue of Tennis Industry Magazine, the USTA announced a new pilot program with 60 grants available for tennis facilities looking to add blended pickleball lines to existing quick-start( 10 and under) tennis courts. In addition, six grants were made available for full, regulation blended pickleball lines. The purpose of the pilot is to gather feedback from facility owners, club managers and players to better understand the economic impact of adding pickleball at these facilities and how to proceed going forward. USAPA has been working with the USTA on the initiative and is encouraged by the ongoing dialog and willingness to perhaps embrace pickleball as a complement to tennis.
For those of us in the pickleball world, it’ s no secret the sport has experienced a meteoric rise over the past five years. However, given the developments this year, the sport is now poised to burst into mainstream culture, considering USTA’ s newfound interest, the Professional Tennis Registry’ s launch of the Professional Pickleball Registry and of course USAPA’ s new multi-year partnership with Indian Wells Tennis Garden to host the Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships. Do you notice a theme? The tennis industry has not only taken notice, but is now looking for ways to embrace pickleball in a complementary capacity. Not only is this great for the advancement of pickleball, it’ s a healthy development for racquet / paddle sports in general.
As final preparations are underway for the Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships( November 3-11 in Indian Wells, CA), I encourage everyone to experience the new tennis / pickleball“ marriage” and attend this historic event. Much like my US Open tennis experience, attendees can expect to see the greatest pickleball players in the world compete in one of the greatest sports venues on the planet. This is the breakthrough opportunity I know our players have been waiting for and deservedly so. This pickleball tournament will be unlike any other on record and will elevate the sport( and our top players) like never before.
JUSTIN MALOOF USAPA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2018 | MAGAZINE 9