This Racket Sport is Transforming America’s Fitness Culture
Fitness in the United States is getting a social makeover, and this sport is leading the charge. Spoiler: it’s not tennis.
I recently showed up at a Monday afternoon pickleball clinic, expecting maybe half a dozen newbies. But when I arrived, the local gym floor looked like a party: Around 25 adults filled every available court, paddles in hand, waiting for their turn to play. The instructor joked, calling out to the crowd, “Don’t you all have jobs?” Apparently not—at least not during pickleball hour. The courts filled with teams of two, and some of us even had to linger on the sidelines to rotate in. This doesn’t seem to be an anomaly, either. All across the U.S., pickleball classes are exploding in popularity, consistently surprising instructors with larger-than-anticipated turnouts.
I had tried to sign up for tennis lessons or even a padel class. But here on the East Coast, many tennis centers are booked solid, and padel is still a bit too rare—or nonexistent. Instead, I found a wealth of pickleball sessions. And so I asked myself: Why pickleball? And how have racket sports collectively become the new wave in American fitness?
Geography, culture, and socialization are reshaping fitness in the United States—specifically through the surging popularity of racket sports. America’s old-school “drive to the gym, pop in your headphones, and ignore everyone” workout style is giving way to more communal activities. Space constraints, cost, ability, and class distinctions have historically shaped who plays which sports (from swimming to golf to tennis). Perhaps that is what has paved the way for pickleball’s ascension. The smaller footprint and inclusive ethos make pickleball the perfect sport to unite different demographics and spark a cultural shift in the way we approach fitness.
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Topography of Culture and Sports
Racket sports live and die on real estate, meaning the availability of the sport is often limited by the cost of space. Dr. Robert Lake, a tennis expert I spoke with, pointed out that tennis requires significant space—full-sized courts, extra room for running after balls, and a location that often skews suburban or private-club.
“Tennis has always had a very upper-middle-class vibe to it because of where the courts are often located—in the suburbs,” Lake said.
He noted that while pickleball seems to be eating into the tennis fan base, he doesn’t see the sport dying out any time soon. In fact, he thinks racket sports aren’t competing but complementing each other. With the rise of pickleball, there is now a larger base of racket sport players who could go on to become stars.
“Tennis is still one of the most lucrative sports worldwide, especially on the professional side. But that alone doesn’t attract the casual crowd,” he continued, emphasizing that, particularly for women, tennis remains a lucrative sports career.
So which sport does appeal to a more casual crowd? Pickleball. Pickleball and other small-court sports, like padel or badminton, fit snugly into smaller footprints. That’s why large cities are seeing growth in these sports. In densely populated cities where space is at a premium, a single tennis court can be converted into almost four pickleball courts, offering 16 people a chance to play instead of just two or four.
Padel, a racket sport that is very popular in European cities, also uses smaller courts, but the courts are designed around walls that must be padded. This makes it harder to repurpose existing structures into padel courts. It’s much easier to do so for pickleball. With pickleball, new courts are popping up in converted parking lots, repurposed gymnasiums, or even on rooftops in some big cities. Understanding the design of the courts helps explain why one sport is taking off more than the other. But there’s also the socialization aspect.
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Socialization as Part of Fitness
For decades, U.S. fitness culture has often meant slogging alone on a treadmill or zoning out in a spin class with headphones on. The New York Times recently asked, “Are Americans Doing Fitness Wrong?” and pointed out that many cultures integrate physical activity into everyday life. They gather in public spaces to exercise together, making movement something that’s part of social routines—not a chore to check off.
Pickleball cuts straight to the heart of this more social approach. You don’t need an advanced skill set to get started, and doubles play keeps you in close contact with your partner and opponents, fostering conversation and instant community.
Brynn Grissom, a marketing and product specialist at Selkirk, a pickleball product company that has seen significant growth in recent years, says pickleball is an incredibly social sport.
“Even at its highest level, pickleball is unbelievably social,” Grissom said. “People show up to have a good time, talk between points, and maybe get a little competitive—but mostly, they’re there to connect.”