Jack Bowe: Pickleball's Attack on Tennis
My published Letter to the Editor of the Perrysburg Messenger Journal
Dear Editor,
Perrysburg currently has seven public tennis courts and 14 public pickleball courts. However, the two tennis courts at Municipal Park are multi-use with movable pickleball nets and permanent lines on the courts, leaving only five tennis courts (all at Rotary Community Park) but 18 pickleball courts.
This significant disparity is upsetting to the large population of casual and competitive tennis players. I love pickleball, and I am far from opposed to its growth. I am excited to see such a fun, accessible sport take off. But our excitement may have gotten the better of us. In 2020, there were nine tennis courts in Perrysburg and zero pickleball courts. Pickleball has experienced a surge in demand, so it is expected that the city will accommodate the desires of its citizens. However, this didn’t necessitate the de facto elimination of four public tennis courts. Pickleball enthusiasts argue that pickleball is more popular than tennis, so sacrificing a few courts to build pickleball courts seems fair. However, statistics don’t support this claim. In 2025, U.S. tennis participation surged to a total of 25.7 million players, up from 23.8 million, while pickleball participation rapidly grew to 19.8 million players. Therefore, the ratio of tennis players to pickleball players in the U.S. is roughly 13 tennis players for every 10 pickleball players.
Assuming that the space required for one tennis court is equivalent to that for two pickleball courts, and keeping this ratio of popularity in mind, Perrysburg should have nine tennis courts and eight pickleball courts. That ratio could’ve easily been achieved: had the Municipal tennis courts not been repurposed, and the new courts at Rotary still been constructed, we would have exactly nine tennis courts (five at Rotary and four at Municipal) and eight pickleball courts. I can admit that this tennis-centered dream of mine is unrealistic. Still, the least the city can do for tennis players is not allow its diminished number of courts to be used for pickleball by removing the pickleball nets at Municipal Park or clearly stating that tennis has priority usage.
