Pickleball vs tennis: what's different
A lot of new pickleball players come from tennis, or at least played it once. If that is you, some things will feel familiar and some will trip you up. Here is what is actually different.
The court is smaller
A pickleball court is much smaller than a tennis court. That means less running and shorter distances to cover. Your body will thank you, especially your knees.
The gear is different
You use a solid paddle, not a strung racket. The ball is plastic with holes, and it moves slower and lower than a tennis ball. Slower ball, smaller court, so rallies feel closer and more about touch than power.
The serve is underhand
No big overhead serve here. You serve underhand, below the waist, and you are just trying to start the point, not win it outright. Tennis players often struggle to slow down and hit softly at first.
The kitchen and the soft game
Tennis has nothing like the kitchen, the no-volley zone near the net. It forces a slow, soft exchange called dinking, which many tennis players find strange because their instinct is to hit hard. Learning to go soft is the biggest mental shift. (See what is the kitchen.)
Scoring and doubles
Scoring is its own thing, and only the serving side scores. And most people play doubles, not singles, so it is a social, four-player game far more often than tennis is.
If you played tennis, your hand-eye skills give you a real head start. Just be ready to unlearn the urge to smash everything. The soft game is where pickleball is won.
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