DinkIt Team Opens New Courts in Malaysia With Behind Closed Doors Tournament

Pickleball courts are opening in Malaysia almost as quickly as bacteria replicate.

It’s great news for the Malaysian pickleball community, and we are even seeing Singaporeans cross the border. They may have been playing longer, but with space at a premium, the number of purpose-built pickleball courts in Singapore is already lagging behind those of their neighbours in Malaysia.

One of the first to open was DinkIt in Kota Kemuning, quickly followed by many others popping up in the most unlikely places, like Zebra Square in KL.

Not to be outdone, the owners of DinkIt have launched—wait for it—Dink2, this time at Sunway Serene, with five indoor courts positioned above the food court at the Paddock.

Speaking with Ken and Ruben, two of the main founders behind DinkIt, it’s clear they take each opening very seriously and aim to put every new venue through rigorous testing. For Dink2, part of that testing was to run an invitation-only, behind-closed-doors tournament. They invited some of Malaysia’s top pickleball players to take part, making for an exciting elite-level competition with excellent gameplay.

Whilst the main aim of the tournament was for the DinkIt management to get important feedback on the courts from high-level players, you know when you get a bunch of elite pickleballers together, they can’t help but take the competition seriously.

PNA was given unrestricted access to this private event and took the time to get feedback from the competitors on how these new courts played and felt, as well as to keep an eye on the invitational tournament.

When you walk into Dink2, it looks really nicely laid out, and the courts look very pristine, but one thing some people notice is that the roof looks low. So a concern that people may have is whether the low ceiling will impede the game when you lob. The answer to this is a resounding “no.” Even under the strains of fast play by some of Malaysia’s hardest hitters, everyone agreed that the clearance is actually perfect; even very high lobs can be played with no fear of the ceiling getting in the way.

In terms of space around the court, Dink2 has got it right there also. This may sound like a no-brainer, but it’s incredible to us at PNA how so many new pickleball courts are cropping up, where owners have clearly spent a lot of money but didn’t take a few minutes to check how much space you need around the court to guarantee safe and effective play. It’s not just about having enough space at the side for elite players to play ATPs. It’s also about having enough space behind the baseline so that players don’t hit walls/nets or even other players on a court too closely positioned behind.

None of this is a concern at Dink2. The space looks like it is ample, and the elite players really put this to the test, playing deep and wide shots at pace, pushing each other far beyond the court boundaries yet always having plenty of room to execute shots without being impeded.

Speaking to some of the players who were invited to the tournament, they did comment that the Dink2 courts play very fast, with a bounce that kicks more than many other courts. For these players who have exceptionally fast hands, they actually see this as an advantage, but for the rest of us, more social players, it takes some getting used to and means that playing the soft game can be challenging. On the plus side, when you return to a slower court, you will probably find your game has improved as you need to sharpen your reactions to play an effective soft game at Dink2.

The walls around Dink2 are black and there is not much natural light; however, the floodlighting is placed above the courts. Players informed us that at first, they had to acclimatise to the lighting, but after a few minutes as they “tuned in,” it was fine and vision was good. This was put to the test with exceptionally fast smashes being executed and defended on many occasions during the competition play.

The final verdict from the elite group was that Dink2 is a well-designed, pleasant pickleball environment suitable for newbies, and social play, right the way through to advanced tournament play.

So, what about the tournament itself? We saw a number of Malaysia’s top players come together for some light-hearted yet serious gameplay.

Jimmy Leong and Razlan Rawi can make a strong case for claiming they are currently the number one Malaysian men’s doubles team in the country, and they ended up doing that claim no harm by winning all their matches and taking the gold medal spot. Another top Malaysian player, Muhammad Aiman, teamed up with the ever-improving Zaki Pauzi to take 2nd place.

The biggest surprise was seeing Jason Tee and Gee Ci Long team up for the first time ever and reach the semi-finals where they took Aiman and Zaki to a rubber set before just losing out. PNA hopes to see this team get together again, as they are a new addition that could perform well against some of the more established top teams in future tournaments.

The final verdict from PNA? Great courts and a welcome addition to fuel the demand of court-hungry Malaysian pickleballers. We thank Dink2 for the invite and wish them well when they launch.