Quote:
Originally Posted by jimjamuser
Pickleball is easier to learn (like racketball) as compared to tennis. There is a smaller court half-court version of tennis that uses a lower bouncing ball which is easier to learn than regular tennis. One problem I see with pickleball is that there seem to be MORE injuries than in tennis. One reason is that pickleball players use a more "wristy" arm motion than tennis players. This adds more stress to the wrist of the pickleball player. Also, there is more shock to the whole arm in pickleball because the pickleball is hard like a rock and the racket is less forgiving. Another problem with pickleball is that you normally hit the backhand with only one hand. Whereas, tennis players can use 2 hands for their backhand if they find that they are developing elbow problems.
Tennis is normally more frustrating to learn than pickleball so pickleball is attractive to many people for that reason.
However, the half-court tennis game is about as easy to learn as pickleball and has the advantage of less stress and injury to the arm. My conclusion is that while pickleball has the advantage of the ease of learning, it is a mistake to encourage OLDER seniors to take up the game. But, I imagine that the many orthopedic professionals here in TV Land are NOT complaining.
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Pickleball and tennis are two fundamentally different games--about as different as, say, soccer and hockey. The goal of both may be the same--score by getting the puck or ball into your opponent's net--but the similarity pretty much ends there. The games require fundamentally different skill sets, just like pickleball and tennis.
My wife and I are avid tennis players. We still play, particularly on the har-tru courts at Lopez. We've managed to remain pretty much injury-free over the years, but we've both known tennis players, some much younger than us, who have tried to play pickleball and have suffered some serious arm, shoulder and back issues as a result. Hitting a tennis ball is pretty different than hitting that whiffleball in pickleball games.