[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive

Injured his Achilles Tendon according to the article. Pretty common among neophyte pickleballers. The sport does not have a great reputation among serious players of most other sports.

A lot of professional athletes (many from non-racquet sports), both current and retired, have seen the rising popularity of Pickleball and have invested quite a bit in the sport, playing venues, various teams, etc. A name athlete showing up to play a sport he or she is heavily invested in can be a positive influence and thus help the investment. I don't know if this is the case with Mr. Langer but it is possible.

Problem is, being a competent athlete in one sport, even if you're in great shape to play that sport, does not automatically translate into "pickleball" shape. The sport is notorious among tennis players, many of whom develop tennis elbow when playing Pickleball. Not being a pickleball player myself but having watched it a lot, the sport resembles ping-pong on steroids. My wife and I are avid tennis players, and it is obvious that a pickleball paddle resembles a tennis racquet only vaguely, and trying to swing one like you would a tennis raquet (natural if you're a tennis player just trying out pickleball) is not only fruitless but can cause problems. The shots, and thus the arm motions, are nowhere near similar. We've had several friends, avid tennis players, who have tried pickleball and consequently suffered some significant arm and shoulder injuries thereby.

The other issue as I see it is that the motions are entirely different. Pickleball seems to be a lot of standing in one place; reaching, twisting, stretching and lunging for balls with your upper body while your lower body doesn't move all that much. The court is small, space is limited. You don't HAVE to be all that mobile to play the sport. The end result could very well be that even though you may be stellar in one sport, when it comes to pickleball your athletic ability for the sport, at first anyway, may be approximately that of someone whose "training" consists of sucking down beer.

Agree.

Just cause he’s good golfer that don’t mean it can translates to other sports were actively have to move and use different muscles.