Pickleball Well Received at French Open, France Expecting Rapid Growth

There are two types of people in this world:

Some who see tennis and pickleball as enemies
And others who see an opportunity for both sports to grow

It sounds like the French Tennis Federation and Amélie Mauresmo, the two-time major champion and former No. 1-ranked tennis player, might be in the latter group.

Pickleball Takes Center Stage at the French Open

Just last week, the red clay court was used for the Grand Slam event at the French Open. Then, it was converted into three temporary pickleball courts as part of a pickleball demonstration provided by the French Tennis Federation (FFT) and Mauresmo.

While some may worry about tennis losing athletes and audiences to pickleball or padel, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) has a different perspective. They are embracing these other racket-adjacent sports with open arms. The FFT has officially brought pickleball under its umbrella and is seeking government approval to hold a sanctioned national championship.

All racket sports can grow together

"I’m not sure it’s the same crowd that are doing these different sports," Mauresmo said. "And if you put it in a tennis club, that means people might come to play pickleball, but then they see tennis and it can maybe attract new people."

Before the French Open women's semifinals between Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff, Mauresmo and FFT president Gilles Moretton participated in a casual pickleball session on Court 5.

This 263-capacity arena was one of the smallest at Roland Garros, with tall pines and buildings visible behind one end and the main stadium, Court Philippe Chatrier, behind the other.

"I didn’t really know what to expect. I haven’t watched pickleball on TV," Mauresmo admitted. "You can have fun quite quickly in this sport. The rules are just a little bit different, so you have to adjust, but it doesn’t take very long to do that."

Fans were encouraged to give pickleball a try as part of a promotional effort, similar to what the FFT did two years ago with padel. Padel joined the federation a decade ago and has been growing in popularity since.

"We want people to come and enjoy and do exercise for health. Tennis is a difficult sport, and sometimes you need to enjoy and learn something quickly — and padel or pickleball is much easier for most people," Moretton said.

"I think pickleball is going to be big in France."

Unlike Mauresmo, Moretton had played pickleball before. "You have to get used to the rules — I didn’t know all the rules at the beginning — but then it’s much easier than tennis," he said.

"So I think pickleball is going to be big in France."

Currently, there are about 300 pickleball courts in France, compared to 34,000 tennis courts. However, Moretton expects this number to grow quickly, similar to how tennis and basketball courts in the United States are being converted into pickleball courts.

Some tennis players, "will stay tennis players"

"Unfortunately, I see that we’re losing some tennis courts to pickleball. They’re putting the pickleball lines on courts instead of putting tennis lines on it. I’m going to stick to tennis and give back to the sport I love and always promote tennis,” said 16-time Grand Slam doubles champion Bob Bryan, who is now the U.S. Davis Cup captain and will coach the country's tennis players at the Paris Olympics this summer.

"Pickleball is a very social game and it’s easy to play and I think that’s why people are loving it," Bryan added. "It’s an equalizer — a grandma can play it with her young grandson. and it can be competitive."

Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, hasn't tried pickleball yet. "It's exciting that there’s a changeup in the game. There’s a lot of girls who used to play tennis and switched to pickleball," Kenin said. "But I'm good at tennis, so I'll stick to that."

A spokesperson for the U.S. Tennis Association mentioned that the group running the U.S. Open has no plans to partner with pickleball or padel.

"A few years ago, people didn’t know what padel was. They thought it was like this," Moretton said, pantomiming holding an oar and paddling. "Now everybody in France knows padel," he continued. "And very quickly, people will know pickleball."

Moretton is confident that tennis can coexist with pickleball and padel. "Nothing is a threat to tennis. Tennis is huge. It’s a special sport, physically, technically and mentally. We are not scared of having padel or pickleball taking over," he said.

"Pickleball will get bigger and bigger, but tennis players will stay tennis players."