Pickleball hater John McEnroe points out one of the biggest negatives about the sport
There’s no doubt that pickleball is one of the most popular sports on the planet, but it still receives a frosty reception from tennis great John McEnroe.
McEnroe and his brother Patrick were doing their alternative broadcast of the French Open called “The MacZone” and invited tennis star-turned-pickleball player Genie Bouchard onto the show.
Not known for being one to bite his tongue, McEnroe couldn’t resist giving the nation’s favorite sport, which his mother probably played in, a shot.
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“That damn idiot is quitting the sport to play pickleball,” he said.
Bouchard called him out, saying he was playing this game too.
John McEnroe gestures during the men’s singles final between Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships in London on July 10, 2022. (Adrian Dennis/AFP)
“I played two weekends and they paid me more for it than I made for tennis,” McEnroe said. “And I was playing with tennis players, so it’s a little different than playing with people who pick pickles.”
To see? He wasn’t playing pickleball; He was selling himself. There is a huge difference.
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McEnroe has a major problem that he thinks the sport needs to solve, and it’s not player compensation, which seems pretty generous.
“The sound of a plastic ball; you know how it sounds great when you hit a tennis ball? But personally, when you hit a pickleball, I think [the sound] That’s a big negative,” McEnroe said after asking Bouchard if she found the sound annoying.
I guarantee you can hear this picture, and so can John McEnroe. (Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle)
I understand It’s not one of the better sports sounds, like a club cracking or an engine revving.
It’s what it sounds like: a wiffle ball that clinks and pops on the field.
I still think the biggest obstacle is the name. It sounds so stupid.
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When I was in high school, my physical education teacher made us play pickleball. I thought you made it up because of the plastic ball and the stupid name. It took me years to realize that this was a real thing and that there was no excuse for him sitting in his office building his fantasy football roster while we took turns serving each other.
No. It turned out to be very real.
