ST. LOUIS – Our soggy weather served up some problems for a national pickleball tournament in Forest Park.
Danny Jensen used to play soccer, but these days he’s traveling the circuit as a professional pickleball player.
“Footwork carries over, and reading the game, and making pretty quick decisions,” Jensen said. “I think the hardest part for me is getting the ground strokes in to compete with the tennis guys. But everything else is: if you’re a competitor, then pickle is a sport for you.”
These players compete 25 to 30 weeks out of the year, and are taking over the Dwight Davis Tennis Center through Sunday. On Wednesday afternoon, crews worked to rid the playing surface of puddles.
This game of the future is growing in popularity and can be played indoors and outdoors.
“Honestly, it’s a game that a grandmother and grandchild can play together,” Jensen said. “And the grandmother will win.”
“I think it’s the fact that you can play a game in 10 to 15 minutes,” said pro player Grant Bond. “You’re not fully invested like a tennis match. In a tennis match, you can play for two hours and lose, and you’re upset. It’s also a lot more social because you can trash talk your opponents, so you can kind of trash talk a little bit. I think it’s more fun and more competitive.”
Rain delays postponed the Association of Pickleball Players Sunmed St. Louis Open to Thursday.
“But to be able to play and have fun is something that anybody can do,” Jensen said.