I didn't know how popular it was. Like everyone she knows plays it. It's wild.
Discussion
I don't even play every month but I can see why it's winning, went down the rabbit hole a little bit and the data is telling.
passed tennis in tracked activities on apple, growth rate is insane
I think tennis barrier to entry is too high for most people. Pickleball is fun for any skill level so I think it follows that total addressable market is bigger.
The most convincing stats for me were that top player salaries and sponsorship are climbing towards tennis pretty quickly and that the average age of the pickleball player is lower than tennis.
I got that vibe from it. That it's inclusive of more people regardless of fitness. So whatever your age or whoever you're with, you can probably play pickleball.
I wonder if it's adoption is being accelerated by heavy investment as well. It almost seems like it's designed to be "perfect" or maybe I'm just paranoid.
It's definitely too quirky to be perfect, I think it optimizes for fun