Christian Alshon Fuels the Tennis vs. Pickleball Fire, Takes Plenty of Heat
"Beef. It's what's for breakfast."
Pickleball Pro Christian Alshon must have been feeling himself Tuesday. Hours before being drafted 7th overall by the Texas Ranchers of Major League Pickleball, he woke up and chose violence on the tennis community.
In a tweet shared by @thedinkpickleball on Instagram, he said:
"Pickleball has made me a much better athlete than Tennis ever did. Faster reaction time and speed are needed since the ball is only coming from 10 feet away. Point for point, pickleball requires more skill than tennis."
As you can only imagine, this didn't sit well with a number of current and former tennis pros.
James Blake, former No. 4 ranked tennis player in the world, said:
Haha. That might be because you were playing a pretty low level of tennis. Maybe if you were familiar with the athleticism it takes to excel at the sport you would realize how ridiculous this statement is.
— James Blake (@JRBlake) April 2, 2024
Nick Kyrgios, Australian tennis pro and formerly ranked No. 13 in singles ranking in the world, replied:
Yeah. Let’s hide under the bed after this statement hahahaha bro get me the best pickleball player and compare his talent to Roger Federer. Wild tweet, wild thought. Delete right now 😂 I love pickle. But you had too many tequilas 😵
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) April 2, 2024
Even former US Open champion Andy Roddick, who has publicly supported pickleball, got in on the action, calling the comments a "dumb conversation."
He added,
It’s pretty hard to say one of the most ridiculous things on Twitter in a given day. Tell you what. If anyone pickle person ever ranks higher in tennis than what Sock will be at end of this year in his new paid pickle hobby, I’ll commentate a pickle match standing on my head.…
— andyroddick (@andyroddick) April 3, 2024
Besides tennis pros, some pickleball pros also poked fun at Alshon's comments.
Responding to The Dink's IG post, Travis Rettenmaier said, "This is probably the dumbest take I've ever read.
And Lucy Kovalova replied, "Nope 😂😂😂😂"
Perhaps no one commented better than pickleball pro Rob Nunnery, who simply called it "Engagement click bait."
Engagement click bait ✅
— Rob Nunnery (@_robnunnery) April 3, 2024
If a comment like this leaves you wondering whether @TweenerKing really believes you have to be in better shape to play pickleball than tennis, or if he was just riling up the masses for likes and comments, let this doubling down effort comfort you:
Posted Wednesday morning,
I played practice sets against Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Steve Johnson, and more when I was 17 and ranked 1 in the country. I understand the level of the top tennis pros. Pickleball requires more skill in several aspects. https://t.co/3n9LSxBkCm
— Christian Alshon (@TweenerKing) April 3, 2024
Which led to some great responses:
Please stop and go play. It’s your serve 4-2-1-38-2-1
— mike zarra (@mikezarra) April 3, 2024
Ohhh doubling down. This will be fun 🤣
— Rob Nunnery (@_robnunnery) April 3, 2024
I took batting practice with an MLB team. That doesn’t mean I have any clue the talent, skill, and work ethic it takes to get to that level of baseball.
— James Blake (@JRBlake) April 3, 2024
Believe it or not, the back-and-forth continued into Thursday, with Blake and Roddick seemingly tapping out.
So many problems/absurdities about this proposal that it will take me a few tweets to respond.
— James Blake (@JRBlake) April 4, 2024
1. Andy and I both in our 40s and I’m on a surgically repaired knee
2. Nick playing for lots more money and prestige on atp tour
3. None of us would train for 6 months at anything for that amount of money (we all had successful careers)
— James Blake (@JRBlake) April 4, 2024
4. None of us said we had any ambition of training at that
5. Your initial comment was comparing tennis and pickle, so the fairer wager would be you train at tennis for 6 months and we train at pickle for 6 months and see who is more successful. Let’s do that one. I won’t even train once and I like my odds.
— James Blake (@JRBlake) April 4, 2024
6. This was a dumb premise to begin with and I’ve humored it for long enough. You’ve gotten the attention you wanted. Enjoy it and I’ve had enough of the silly comparison. I enjoy pickleball, but to compare is never going to end well.
— James Blake (@JRBlake) April 4, 2024
He’s had his attention. Now I just want to get kicked out of this conversation like he got kicked out of Virginia. Pickle is fun, and I understand how all this is good for it. It does nothing for us. I’m out. Cheers
— andyroddick (@andyroddick) April 4, 2024
We just have one thing to say about all this: We love it. Thanks for always entertaining us, TweenerKing. And congratulations on your MLP selection.
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