There’s no denying pickleball is rising meteorically in Asia—and Malaysia is among the Asian countries with a thriving pickleball scene already. It is also growing but maybe at the expense of another popular sport: tennis.
Maria Ghazali, a former national junior tennis player for Malaysia, recently expressed concern that the pickleball boom is adversely affecting the country’s tennis infrastructure, with more and more tennis courts being repurposed into pickleball courts. This, she says, is impacting tennis players as well—and not in a positive way.
“There are a number of parties heavily investing in pickleball and padel infrastructure at the moment; however, there are also those who are just converting tennis courts into pickleball and padel courts,” Ghazali pointed out at the Asics Regional Tennis Summit. “This includes hotels and clubs who are looking to capitalise on the sports’ increasing popularity.”
Ghazali doubled down on her point, stating: “This should not be the case as there are only a limited number of tennis courts in the country. And many of these tennis courts are not in good condition as money is not being spent on their upkeep. This limits what we can do in terms of development, many juniors can’t get access to decent tennis courts.”
Pickleball Is a Good Thing Still, According to Ghazali
While Ghazali is concerned about pickleball cannibalising tennis in Malaysia, she still views the rise of pickleball—and padel as well for that matter—as a good thing for Malaysians. That, she says, is true even if tennis is facing heavy competition now from two other growing racquet sports, particularly pickleball.
“At a macro level, the increase in popularity of these two sports is good because it gives the public more options when it comes to sports they can play,” she said at the same summit. “Already a lot of tennis players have already taken up pickleball. In terms of grassroots, this could reduce the number of young tennis players coming into the system as there are now three (similar) racquet sports to choose from.”
Even so, Ghazali is confident tennis won’t soon be replaced by pickleball and padel because they “do not yet have the prestige that tennis has as they are not in the Olympics and do not have their own Grand Slams.”
However, Ghazali admits the final verdict on pickleball is still up in the air.
“Ultimately, only time will tell,” she said. “They could become even bigger in the future or their popularity could taper.”
If the present is any indication, though, it looks like there’s a good chance pickleball and padel will trend towards a bigger, more exciting future. Neither probably will equal tennis in terms of prestige. But the global appeal of both—pickleball, in particular—likely won’t end any time soon.
Whatever the case, tennis and pickleball (along with padel) can co-exist, can’t they?
