Dr. Brian Hainline, USTA president, described the sound of pickleball play as "obnoxious" and raised concerns about tennis courts being repurposed for pickleball, stating, "It was a great, organic, grassroots movement, but it was a little anti-tennis." This highlights the tension between traditional tennis culture and the rising popularity of pickleball, which some see as encroaching on tennis's territory.
The USTA is countering the rise of pickleball with a new initiative, Red Ball Tennis, aimed at recapturing the audience. Hainline explained that Red Ball Tennis features a smaller racket, a lower net, and a larger, low-compression ball, and can be ideally played on pickleball courts, illustrating the USTA's strategy to adapt and compete in the changing landscape of racquet sports.
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