When mentioning “racket sports”, there are three sports that come to mind: tennis, table tennis, and pickleball. As someone who has been told that these sports are basically the same, I will tell you otherwise. My credentials: I am a young 15 year old athlete who has played all three sports at one point or another. Each sport has its setups, equipment, and gameplay speeds that contribute to making it unique from each other.
To start off, the most famous one, tennis. This unique sport possesses a large rectangular court where singles or doubles players hit a felt ball over a central net with a tightly strung corded racket. Tennis is hard to learn as it has strict technical skills that take a long time to master, like the overhand serve while using a heavy racket and a fast, bouncy ball. Tennis focuses on power, heavy spin, and deep baseline coverage.
Next is pickleball, one of the most similar sports to tennis. Unlike tennis, pickleball is especially great for beginners as it uses an underhand serve, a light paddle, and a slow moving plastic ball which makes it easy to start rallies. Furthermore, pickleball is played on a court about four times smaller than the size of a tennis court. Pickleball focuses on soft “dinking” near the kitchen line, quick reflexes, and patience.
Lastly, there’s table tennis or better known as ping pong. A fun pick up sport that usually becomes competitive between friends in just a few minutes. Ping pong is an indoor sport played on an elevated 9 ft x 5 ft table divided by a small net. It uses a small lightweight paddle with a rubber surface and a celluloid ball. Ping pong features fast exchanges, heavy reliance on spin from the rubber paddle surface, with games played to 11 or 21 points.
Overall, these three sports each have their own unique ways to play the game. So the next time you are confused about the differences, maybe refer back to this article to help you out!