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Did Pickleball Cancel Billie Jean King’s World Team Tennis?
14 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Pickleball leagues are the hot investment in sports today with John Isner, Kim Clijsters, Lebron James, Tom Brady, on board financing its growth and expansion in 2023.
Meanwhile, Billie Jean King’s World Team Tennis appears to have run it’s course. WTT did not compete last year and there are no signs on the WTT web site that there will be a season this year either. In July 2022, WTT announced that it was seeking investors to start new WTT franchises – to own a new WTT franchise would cost you $1,000,000. There have been no WTT updates on their web site since last July and no updates or news on what the 2023 schedule will be.
So it would appear World Team Tennis is finished – while Pickleball team tennis and tournaments are flourishing all over the United States. Every week there seems to be a new Pickleball tournament featuring men’s and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Even Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, Andy Roddick and John McEnroe have caught pickleball fever as they will compete for $1,000,000 in a special one day pickleball tournament in early April in Florida, which will be televised live by ESPN.
It’s yet another sign that Pickleball’s invasion of professional tennis is winning and winning big. And the way things are evolving and trending, tennis should be afraid, very afraid.
With Billie Jean King’s WTT biting the dust, you have to wonder who and what will be the next tennis casualties of this stunning and concerning Pickleball takeover phenomenon.
Billie Jean King · John Isner · LeBron James · Pickleball · Tom Brady
catherine · March 27, 2023 at 4:24 am
My guess pickleball won’t last very much longer than WTT. And I’d place a fairly large bet that tennis will be played long after Pickleball has followed WTT and and Platform tennis into oblivion. Tennis is just the superior game. More difficult yes, but superior.
WTT was a 70s thing. Caused a stir for a while during the tennis boom and then faded. Too US centred and ultimately not attractive to top players. And dependent on BJK and Larry in the long run. BJK was too busy and Larry wasn’t a major figure. Larry had some strange ideas. He was less practical than BJ in many ways and maybe should have taken his legal training in a different direction.
Can you picture Pickleball at Wimbledon ? Not really.
(BTW after the Team Tennis franchise was sold a couple of years ago there’s been silence. I suspect we’ve heard the last of it)
Scoop Malinowski · March 27, 2023 at 7:44 am
Catherine, you don’t seem to understand how popular pickleball is here in the US and how many people are playing all the time, especially seniors. Where I live they come out twice a day, they play in the morning then again in the afternoon – every day. Everywhere I play tennis, there seems to be more pickleball players playing PB. Now they have a pro tour and every week big tournaments with the big stars – Ben Johns, Anna Bright, Tyson McGuffin, Lea Jansen, Jay Devilliers, etc. They all play singles doubles and mixed. It’s a good show. WTT is definitely dead in the water. It always was a struggle for BJK and her staff but now BJK appears to have given up on it. Frankly, it won’t be missed.
Scoop Malinowski · March 27, 2023 at 7:52 am
KTF.kz reports that Elena Rybakina has donated her prize money to support junior players of Kazakhstan. Each of the 14 players received 2.5M KZT (about 5.5K USD) from Elena.
Scoop Malinowski · March 27, 2023 at 8:02 am
Jimmy Butler on Alcaraz: “He’s always poised. He’s never rattled and more than anything, it looks like he’s having so much fun out there. I think whenever you have fun and you have that mentality that you know you’re the best, you go out there and you play as though you’re the best, results happen and he’s not No. 1 for no reason.” Not the most articulate quote to capture the essence of Alcaraz who is only a counterfeit no. 1 because the establishment stole 2000 Wimbledon points from Djokovic and the points from two other Grand SLams and four 1000s.
catherine · March 27, 2023 at 10:01 am
Fair enough Scoop – but the US isn’t the entire world. I don’t hear anything about Pickleball here.
Anyway in the UK older people are struggling to stay alive. They haven’t got the energy for Pickwick ball and who’s going to pay for the courts etc ? Not the local councils. They’re all broke.
I’m sure it’s a great recreatión but I imagine that’s where it’ll stay.
Bianca seems tó be doing well. She said she’d like to talk to Emma. On the face of it they have a lot in common. But Emma might resist that.
Scoop Malinowski · March 27, 2023 at 10:31 am
Catherine, in the US pickleball is growing expanding enormously, it’s our fastest growing sport, It’s a phenomenon. McEnroe Agassi Chang Roddick are even playing a one day tournament for $1m on ESPN. Trust me when I tell you it’s huge here and not just in FL NJ CA, it’s everywhere, indoors too. Didn’t Andreescu try sharing coaches with another player? Didn’t work out so well.
Cory · March 27, 2023 at 11:05 am
Scoop – i would agree that Djoker is likely #1 if the power players didn’t interfere with a man’s rights to compete. However (and i’m sure you’ll agree) that Alcaraz is due some praise here. He does look poised, seems to have the mental game, and obvious physical game. I do wonder if Djokovic would be assumed to beat him in a GS/1000 final. Not shockingly perhaps, Alcaraz leads the H2H 1-0, 1 clay meeting. My money would probably be on Djokovic but only if it were evens. But certainly to your specific point, yes thousands of CERTAIN points were robbed from Djoker tally.
Scoop Malinowski · March 27, 2023 at 3:28 pm
Cory, no doubt it’s just a matter of time before Alcaraz dethrones Djokovic and takes over as the UNDISPUTED King of tennis. But right now it’s unofficial, he’s gotten mucho help from the establishment. Though yes he did beat Djokovic, remember it was after AO trauma when he was not yet in peak form. Carlos has enormous upside and is still years away from his best tennis. Djokovic also seems to be still getting better, amazingly, but time is with Carlos and the day will come when Carlos will dominate Djokovic. Like how Djokovic dominated Federer.
catherine · March 28, 2023 at 2:03 am
Just as I said Bianca was doing well….she does something to her ankle and is carted off court in a wheelchair.
Her outfit didn’t impress the commentators either.
The WTA Big 4 has shrunk to the Big 3. Saba slaughtered Barbora K.
ll…
Scoop Malinowski · March 28, 2023 at 8:11 am
So sad to see Andreescu injured again just when she was returning to top form again, maybe her body just can’t handle the level of intensity that it takes to play elite ultimate tennis. A fragile body not well suited for the talent and desire it has inside. Krejcikova had been complaining she deserves more media attention and respect, tough loss for her.
catherine · March 28, 2023 at 3:10 pm
All you ever wanted tó knów abóut Pickleball – and probably a whole lot more:
https://popcorntennis.com/2023/03/28/the-pickleball-problem/
Obviously, P’ball is in the air. Which way will it fall ?
Scoop Malinowski · March 28, 2023 at 4:14 pm
Catherine, Pickleball will continue to grow and thrive. Querrey, Sock are all playing pro tour of Pickleball now, it’s also popular with young people too, I know ex college players who are playing a ton of PB, they love the change of pace and the new challenges. The McEnroe Chang Roddick Agassi PB event in early April will be a huge spark for PB.
Sam · March 29, 2023 at 12:17 am
Speaking of pickleball, this is pretty funny: 😁
https://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/blondie/s-2794366
Scoop Malinowski · March 29, 2023 at 8:28 am
Sam, haven’t seen a Blondie movie or comic in decades, that was a surprise to see pickleball getting that kind of extra publicity. Miss those old Dagwood Bumstead movies, they still come on tv sometimes.