Pickleball is often compared to other, more popular net sports all the time. Is pickleball more like ping pong or tennis, or perhaps something else?

Though not quite the same, having originated from other net sports, it’s understandable that pickleball is similar to them.

Pickleball has a fair number of similarities with tennis and ping pong. Though pickleball and tennis both have the same kind of court, pickleball needs the use of a paddle, like in ping pong. The similarities of pickleball and the other two games are rather equal!

So, there are similarities and differences, like you’d expect but what are these? How does pickleball differ from tennis and ping pong, and how does it feel the same?

We researched each of these three sports to determine the ways in which they differ or remain the same.

Rackets & Paddles

As net sports, each of these games would use different kinds of equipment for playing, which draw differences between them.

In tennis, you hit the ball with a racket that is large and egg shaped. It usually has nylon strings that are thick and absorb the impact of the ball. Tennis rackets are very similar to badminton rackets (another similar net sport!) but are stronger since badminton rackets have to hit the shuttlecock, which is lightweight, and tennis rackets have to hit the ball.

On the other hand, ping pong and pickleball use paddles. The ping pong paddle has a short grip which is big enough only for your hand, followed immediately by a small circle. These would usually have rubber on both sides. Pickleball paddles are very similar to ping pong paddles, but these are larger and more towards the square side.

On that front, pickleball would be considered more similar to ping pong than to tennis.

Rules

Another way to assess similarity or difference is the rules. Though all are largely unanimous in the sense that the ball can’t bounce more than once before you return it, there are other aspects to it as well.

Scoring

Tennis, for example, has a more confusing scoring system. The points are counted as 0, 15, 30 or 40. If you get a 40 and your opponent doesn’t, you win, but if you are tied, you keep playing until you get the advantage and win.

Tennis is played in sets, and you need a two game lead to win.

Ping pong is much simpler in terms of scores. Ping pong scores are awarded numerically depending on whether the player fails or succeeds to return the ball. The first person to reach 11 wins, though again, this should come with a two point lead, and is usually played in sets.

Pickleball is actually not similar to either game on this front. For one thing, in pickleball, you can only score a point when serving. If you manage to score, you can continue serving, but you’d have to switch the side of the court. Like tennis, serves have to be diagonal.

The scoring system in pickleball implies that to actually get a score, you have to first get the chance to serve, and only after this can you score points. Therefore, at least in terms of scores, pickleball is not much like either tennis or ping pong.

Serves

There are also differences or similarities in serves. Tennis is played under or overarm, diagonally, and pickleball is played pretty much the same way. In ping pong, the serve is diagonal, but it should bounce on your own side first, and should not fall off the table.

Volleys

In terms of volleys, tennis allows volleys after the serve, while ping pong doesn’t allow them at all. Pickleball allows volleys as long as they aren’t in the ‘kitchen’ area of the court, and the ball must have bounced once on either side of the net before volleys can be allowed.

Court

Another aspect to the games is the size of the court. Tennis and pickleball have very similar courts, but the court for pickleball is slightly smaller and deeps a bit in the center. Ping pong, on the other hand, doesn’t have a ‘court’ per se, since it is played on a table.

In that sense, pickleball is definitely similar to tennis.

Ball

We talked about pickleball using a paddle, like in ping pong, but what about the ball?

The ball for each of these three games is actually quite different. The tennis ball is the most well-known one. A hand sized ball made of spongy rubber that can be very hard, and is usually green or white.

The ping pong ball is small and made of hollow, lightweight plastic. Since it’s so small, it is usually a brighter color like orange or white, to make it easy to see.

Pickleball uses a small, hand-sized whiffle ball. This is a hollow ball, somewhat similar in size to the tennis ball, but with holes that make its flight much better and easier.

Which is more similar?

So, which is it? Ping pong or tennis?

Truthfully, there are enough differences and similarities between both to say that pickleball falls somewhere in the middle. But when you consider that pickleball is a whole other game, it’s no surprise that there are small things that make it similar or different to each of these. All net sports have similar origins, so of course, they’d have some kind of overlap.

Each of these is definitely similar in that the purpose of each one is to keep returning the ball over to the other side until your opponent slips up. They all also involve the use of very similar skills, such as agility, hand-eye coordination and quick thinking.

Though there are differences in equipment, this is because each of these games are suited for different kinds of people who may have different requirements. The rules of the games are also made specifically to cater to these differences and account for the size of court, the equipment, etc.